Bog Bean (or Marsh-trefoil)
The Buck-bean, or Bog-bean, which is common enough in stagnant
pools, and on our spongy bogs, is the most serviceable of
all known herbal tonics. It may be easily recognised growing in
water by its large leaves overtopping the surface, each being
composed of three leaflets, and resembling the leaf of a Windsor
Broad Bean. The flowers when in bud are of a bright rose [59]
color, and when fully blown they have the inner
urface of their
petals thickly covered with a white fringe, on which account the
plant is known also as white fluff. The name Buckbean is
perhaps a corruption of scorbutus, scurvy; this giving it another
title, scurvy bean. And it is termed goat's bean, perhaps from
the French le bouc, a he-goat. The plant flowers for a month
and therefore bears the botanical designation, Menyanthes
(trifoliata) from meen, a month, and anthos, a flower. It
belongs to the Gentian tribe, each of which is distinguished by a
tonic and appetizing bitterness of taste. The root of the Bog Bean
is the most bitter part, and is therefore selected for medicinal use.
It contains a chemical glucoside, Menyanthin, which consists of
glucose and a volatile product, Menyanthol. For curative
purposes druggists supply an infusion of the herb, and a liquid
extract in combination with liquorice. These preparations are in
moderate doses, strengthening and antiscorbutic; but when given
more largely they are purgative and emetic. Gerard says if the
plant be taken with mead, or honied water, it is of use against a
cough; in which respect it is closely allied to the Sundew (another
plant of the bogs) for relieving whooping-cough after the first
feverish stage, or any similar hacking, spasmodic cough. A
tincture is made (H.) from the whole plant with spirit of wine, and
this proves most useful for clearing obscuration of the sight, when
there is a sense, especially in the open-air, of a white vibrating
mist before the eyes; and therefore it has been given with marked
success in early stages of amaurotic paralysis of the retina. The
dose should be three or four drops of the tincture with a
tablespoonful of cold water three times in the day for a week at a
time.