{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Speciesbox | image = Menyanthes trifoliata Bukkeblad.JPG | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=IUCN>{{cite iucn |author=Akhani, H. |year=2014 |title=''Menyanthes trifoliata'' |article-number=e.T163993A42397943 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-1.RLTS.T163993A42397943.en |access-date=31 July 2024}}</ref> | status2 = {{TNCStatus}} | status2_system = TNC | status2_ref = <ref name="NatureServe">{{Cite NatureServe |date=28 February 2025 |id=2.152693 |title=''Menyanthes trifoliata'' |access-date=21 March 2025}}</ref> | genus = Menyanthes | parent_authority = L. | species = trifoliata | authority = L. | synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id= |title=''Menyanthes trifoliata'' L. |access-date=21 March 2025}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list | Menyanthes americana | Sweet | Menyanthes latifolia | Raf. | Menyanthes palustris | Gray | Menyanthes paradoxa | Fr. | Menyanthes tridentata | Raf. | Menyanthes trifoliata f. brevistyla | Aver. | Menyanthes trifoliata f. macrophylla | Bolzon | Menyanthes trifoliata f. microphylla | Bolzon | Menyanthes trifoliata var. minor | Fernald | Menyanthes trifoliata var. paradoxa | Fr. | Menyanthes trifoliata subsp. verna | (Raf.) Gervais & M.Parent | Menyanthes trifolium | Neck. | Menyanthes verna | Raf. }} }} }} thumb|200px|A bog-bean dominated habitat in Ayrshire, Scotland

'''''Menyanthes''''' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Menyanthaceae containing the single species '''''Menyanthes trifoliata'''''. The North American form is often referred to as '''''M.&nbsp;trifoliata'' var. ''minor''''' Michx. It is known in English by the common names '''bogbean''',<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17 }}</ref> '''marsh trefoil'''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Menyanthes+trifoliata |title=Plants For A Future: Menyanthes trifoliata - L.|access-date=2025-05-07}}</ref> and '''buckbean'''.

==Description== ''Menyanthes trifoliata'' has a horizontal rhizome with alternate, trifoliate leaves. The inflorescence is an erect raceme of white flowers. The buds are rose-pink in color. The flowers when fully open look like "white stars" and the petals are fringed with white whiskers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=John |url=http://archive.org/details/nationaltrustboo0000stev_p1i9 |title=The National Trust book of Wild Flower Gardening |date=1987 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-0-86318-219-8 |location=London |page=104}}</ref>

The species occurs in fens and bogs in Asia, Europe, and North America. In eastern North America, it is considered to be a diagnostic fen species.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Godwin |first1=Kevin S. |last2=Shallenberger |first2=James P. |last3=Leopold |first3=Donald J. |last4=Bedford |first4=Barbara L. |year=2002 |title=Linking landscape properties to local hydrogeologic gradients and plant species occurrence in minerotrophic fens of New York State, USA: A Hydrogeologic Setting (HGS) framework |journal=Wetlands |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=722–37 |doi=10.1672/0277-5212(2002)022[0722:LLPTLH]2.0.CO;2|s2cid=20623975 }}</ref> It sometimes creates big quagmires with its thick roots.

==Taxonomy== The name ''Menyanthes'' comes from Greek ''menyein'' 'disclosing' and ''anthos'' 'flower' in reference to the sequential opening of flowers on the inflorescence.

=== Fossil record === One fossil seed of ''Menyanthes trifoliata'' has been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland.<ref>Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.</ref>

==Conservation== The species is protected in the United States.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=Lee Allen |url=https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetoedib0000pete_h5c3/page/22/ |title=A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1978 |isbn=0-395-20445-3 |location=Boston |page=22 |oclc=3541725}}</ref> It is a host plant to the endangered bog buck moth, ''Hemileuca maia menyanthevora''.<ref name=USFWS>{{cite web|url=https://www.fws.gov/species/bog-buck-moth-hemileuca-maia-menyanthevora |title=Bog Buck Moth |access-date=June 6, 2024 |publisher = U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service}}</ref>

==Uses== The rootstock can be ground into an unpalatable flour for emergency use.<ref name=":0" /> The plant has a characteristic strong and bitter taste, which can be used in schnapps.<ref>{{cite book |title=Der Hausfreund auf dem Lande, oder Sammlung erprobter Rathschläge, Recepte und Mittel, zur eigenen Berathung und Selbsthülfe, vorzüglich beym einsamen Landleben für Hausväter und Hausmütter |language=de |volume=1 |url=https://www.google.de/books/edition/Der_Hausfreund_auf_dem_Lande_oder_Sammlu/NAlPAAAAcAAJ?hl=de&gbpv=0 |author=Röver, Friedrich |year=1824 |page=[https://www.google.de/books/edition/Der_Hausfreund_auf_dem_Lande_oder_Sammlu/NAlPAAAAcAAJ?hl=de&gbpv=1&pg=PA27&printsec=frontcover 27] |publisher=Magdeburg: Wilhelm Heinrichshofen}}</ref> The ''British Flora Medica'' (1845) says about the plant: "The peasants of Westrogothia frequently use the leaves instead of hops for preserving their beer, which is thus rendered of an agreeable flavour as well as defended from acescensy".<ref>{{cite book |title=The British Flora Medica, or, History of the medicinal Plants of Great Britain |volume=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/b21695088_0001/page/n5/mode/2up |author=Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh |year=1845 |page=[https://archive.org/details/b21695088_0001/page/106/mode/2up 106] |publisher=London: Henry G. Bohn }}</ref>

In China, the plant is known as "sleeping herbs" ({{lang|zh|睡菜}}) or "herbs that calm consciousness" ({{lang|zh|暝菜}}). ''Guangdong Xing Yu'' (1678), a Qing dynasty book by Chiu-Da-Jun, records: "Eat [''Menyanthes trifoliata'';] makes people sleep well." The ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' records: "[Treats] insomnia, restlessness".{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{EB1911 poster|Buck-Bean}} * {{Commons-inline|italic=1}} * {{Wikispecies-inline|Menyanthes trifoliata|''Menyanthes trifoliata''}} * [http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?5154,5155,5156 Jepson Manual Treatment] * [https://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=METR3 USDA Plants Profile] * [http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?query_src=photos_index&where-taxon=Menyanthes+trifoliata Photo gallery] * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxAdGuh2giI Bogbean with John Feehan, Wildflowers of Offaly series]

{{Taxonbar|from1=Q12179906|from2=Q156153}}

Category:Menyanthaceae Category:Monotypic Asterales genera Category:Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine