buckbean

buck·bean

B0526000 (bŭk′bēn′)n. A perennial herb (Menyanthes trifoliata) native to the Northern Hemisphere and having trifoliate leaves and clusters of white, pink, or purplish flowers.

[Translation of Flemish bocks boonen, goat's beans : bocks, genitive of bock, goat + boonen, pl. of boon, bean.]

buckbean

(ˈbʌkˌbiːn) n (Plants) a marsh plant, Menyanthes trifoliata, with white or pink flowers: family Menyanthaceae. Also called: bogbean

Thesaurus

Noun

buckbean - perennial plant of Europe and America having racemes of white or purplish flowers and intensely bitter trifoliate leaves; often rooting at water margin and spreading across the surfacebog myrtle, bogbean, marsh trefoil, Menyanthes trifoliata, water shamrockgenus Menyanthes, Menyanthes - the type genus of the Menyanthaceae; one species: bogbeansaquatic plant, hydrophyte, hydrophytic plant, water plant - a plant that grows partly or wholly in water whether rooted in the mud, as a lotus, or floating without anchorage, as the water hyacinth

Buckbean

(Menyanthes), a genus of plants of the buck-bean family (earlier assigned to the Gentianaceae family). The buckbean is a perennial herb with a long, creeping, segmented rhizome. All its leaves emerge from the root on long stalks and are ternate. The leafless stem (scape) ends in an elongated brush. The blossoms are white or pinkish, and the fruit is a boll that opens into two folds. There is only one species, the trifoliate buckbean (M. trifoliata), which is found in the northern hemisphere. It grows in marshes and often forms thickets. The leaves of the buckbean contain the glycoside menyanthin. Dried buckbean leaves are sometimes used in the form of an infusion or tea as a bitter principle to stimulate the appetite; this in turn makes up choleretic tea and bitters.

REFERENCE

Atlas lekarstvennykh rastenii SSSR. Moscow, 1962.

buckbean

noun

Synonyms for buckbean

noun perennial plant of Europe and America having racemes of white or purplish flowers and intensely bitter trifoliate leaves

Synonyms

bog myrtle
bogbean
marsh trefoil
Menyanthes trifoliata
water shamrock

Related Words

genus Menyanthes
Menyanthes
aquatic plant
hydrophyte
hydrophytic plant
water plant