445. Menyanthes.—Water Shamrock. Buckbean (N.F.).

445. MENYANTHES.—WATER SHAMROCK. BUCKBEAN (N.F.) The herb of Menyan'thes trifolia'ta Linné, an aquatic plant growing in bogs in the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere. Leaves ternate, rising out of the water on long petioles from a rhizome; leaflets obovate, about 50 mm. (2 in.) long, with entire margin, and smooth, green upper surface, paler beneath. It has no odor, but a very bitter taste, due to a bitter principle, menyanthin, C₃₃H54O16(?). Bitter tonic, in large doses cathartic. Employed in the preparation: Vinum Aurantii Compositum, N.F. (Elix. Aurantiorum Compositum, Germ. Pharm.). Dose: 15 to 45 gr. (1 to 3 Gm.).

A Manual of Organic Materia Medica and Pharmacognosy, 1917, was written by Lucius E. Sayre, B.S. Ph. M.