Buck-Bean, or Menyarthes, , L. a genus of plants, comprising four species, of which two are natives :

1. The trifoliata, or marsh trefoil, water trefoil, marsh cleaver, or trefoil buck-bean : it grows in moist, marshy places, in many parts of Britain, and its very beautiful flowers appear in June and July. This useful plant is, according to Bechstein, a very agreeable fodder to cattle: its cultivation is therefore recommended, for improving marshy lands. Dr. Withering informs us that cows, horses, and swine refuse it. From experiments made at Upsal, in Sweden, it appears that though goats eat it, sheep will not always relish its leaves ; which, by some persons, are smoked instead of tobacco. It is farther asserted by others, that such sheep as have a relish for the marsh trefoil are, by eating it, cured of the rot.

In Lapland, the powdered roots of this plant are converted into bread, which, however, is not very palatable: and the country people of West-Gothland, in Sweden, employ it for imparting a bitter to ale; for which purpose two ounces are equally efficacious as one pound of hops.

Dr. Darwin also recommends these leaves as a substitute for hops ; and adds, that they might be equally wholesome and palatable. In dyeing they afford, according to Bechstein, a green and yellow colour.

An infusion of the leaves is extremely bitter, and is prescribed in rheumatisms and dropsies: one dram of them, in powder, both purges and vomits; and is occasionally given as a vermifuge.•• Dr. Lewis considers the Menyanthfs as a powerful aperient and deob-struent, promoting the fluid secretions. It has of late gained great reputation in scorbutic and scro-phulous disorders. Inveterate affections of the skin, have been cured by an infusion of the leaves taken at proper intervals, to the quantity of a pint in twenty-four hours, and continued for several weeks.—Boerhaave cured himself of the gout, by drinking the juice of this plant mixed with whey. Stubborn facts, like this, require great authorities.

2. The nymphceoides, or fringed buck-bean, or lesser yellow water-lily, growing in large ditches and slow streams. Lord Lewisham found it in the Thames, near Walton-bridge ; and it has also been discovered in a lake, at Castle-Howard, Yorkshire. The leaves of this species are heart-shaped at the base, rounded at the end, sometimes spotted, about two inches long, and swim on the water. Its fine yellow blossoms appear in July and August.

Bechstein relates, that the inhabitants of Japan, where the fringed buck-bean is also indigenous, eat it as a pickle, simply prepared with salt; or, after simmering it in water, and removing the impurities from the top, they use it in broths.