Encyclopedia - Plants for ponds
Buckbean
Menyanthes
Buckbean (lat. Menyánthes) — a monotypic genus of the family Menyanthaceae (Menyanthaceae), represented by the species Three-leaved buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliáta), or water trefoil, or trifol, which grows in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name comes from the Greek menyein — to open and anthos — flower, referring to the successive opening of flowers within the inflorescence.
It occurs in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere, from Arctic to subtropical zones of Europe, Asia and America. Found on peat and mineral soils, on sphagnum bogs, along the banks of standing and slow-flowing waters, in the marshy margins of overgrown lakes and oxbow lakes. Buckbean can be one of the components of the herb-shrub layer of bogs, wet forests and meadows.
Perennial herbaceous plant, 15—35 cm tall, with a thick, rather long rhizome. Stem creeping, jointed, branching. Leaves all alternate, basal, large, more or less sessile, long-petiolate with a trifoliate blade, obovate, glabrous.
Flowers whitish-pink, sometimes lilac, star-shaped, arise from the axils of small bracts, gathered in a dense, oblong raceme on a leafless flowering stalk 3—7 cm long. Corolla elongated, 12—14 cm, bell-shaped, densely hairy inside. Five stamens.
Blooms in May—June, fruits ripen in July—August. Fruit is a one-celled, ovoid capsule, pointed at the top, 7—8 cm long, opening with two valves.
Habitat: grows well in wet places and in shallow water, in warm, slow-flowing or still waters. This plant spreads rapidly and luxuriantly only in nutrient-rich water bodies, in which "blooming" of the water is often observed.
Planting: to prevent the plant from getting out of control, it is planted in a basket. To avoid water "blooming" the plant can be planted not in mesh containers but in ordinary pots or containers with holes only at the bottom. Such a container is filled with substrate, which is then sealed on top with a 2-cm layer of heavy clay to prevent the leaching of nutrients into the water. The plants will spread and part of them will hang over the edge of the container, where additionally formed roots will take up nutrients from the water, improving its quality. A. Luchnik recommends a planting depth up to 20 cm, D. Hassayon 2.5—8 cm.
Propagation: mainly vegetatively — by dividing the rhizomes in spring and in the first half of summer. The technique of seed propagation has not been worked out, but apparently seeds are best sown in autumn.