Online Virtual Flora of Wisconsin - Menyanthes trifoliata

Menyanthes trifoliata L.

Family: Menyanthaceae

bogbean, common buckbean

[Menyanthes trifoliata var. minor L.]

Hugh H. Iltis

Janice Stiefel

University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium (UWSP)

Open Interactive Map

Etymology: Menyanthes: ancient Theophrastian name for "month" and "flower," referring to length of time it blooms
Plants: erect, perennial, 4"-12" tall, fleshy aquatic
Leaves: 3-parted, basal, fleshy, hairless, on a long stalk with a wide, sheathing base
Flowers: white often with a purple-tinge, 5-parted, 1/2"-3/4" wide, throat coarsely hairy; inflorescence a branched, crowded cluster (cyme); blooms April-July
Habitat: quiet, shallow, cold water; bogs, forests, sloughs
Conservation Status: Native

Buckbean, bogbean. Characteristic of very wet, Sphagnum-Carex-Ericaceae bogs, open or with scattered trees, often on floating mats or in the shallow, acidic water of bordering moats, but sometimes in deep sphagnum, also wet tamarack, alder, or cedar-black ash swamps and swales behind sandspits along Lake Superior, local farther south in flooded willow or dogwood thickets, rarely in sedge meadow marshes of the central plain and relictual tamarack bogs and calcareous fens (e.g., Waubesa Wetlands SNA) in the southeast. A circumpolar species, readily distinguished by the pale, trifoliolate leaves and scapose racemes of heterostylous flowers, the bright white corollas of which are bearded or fringed on the inner surface with coarse, white hairs