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perennial plant of Europe and America having racemes of white or purplish flowers and intensely bitter trifoliate leaves; often rooting at water margin and spreading across the surface

perennial plant of Europe and America having racemes of white or purplish flowers and intensely bitter trifoliate leaves; often rooting at water margin and spreading across the surface

The taste is intensely bitter, and is extracted by water. It is tonic, anthelmintic, diuretic, cathartic, and in large doses, emetic. In some countries, it is used as a substitute hops in making beer.

The buckbean; growing in the northern hemisphere. The entire plant is tonic, cathartic, and in large doses emetic, its virtues depending on a bitter principle, menyanthin. [Gr.]