Menyanthes trifoliata (Buckbean)
Also known as: | Bog Bean, Marsh Trefoil, Water Shamrock |
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Genus: | Menyanthes |
Family: | Menyanthaceae (Buckbean) |
Life cycle: | perennial |
Origin: | native |
Habitat: | part shade, sun; wet soil; bogs, swamps, marshes, wet meadows, wet depressions, fens, floating mats |
Bloom season: | April - July |
Plant height: | 4 to 12 inches |
Wetland Indicator Status: | GP: OBL MW: OBL NCNE: OBL |
MN county distribution (click map to enlarge): | ![]() |
National distribution (click map to enlarge): | ![]() |
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Detailed Information
Flower:
Showy raceme of 10 to 20 stalked flowers at the top of a long, stout, naked stem that usually rises above the leaves. Flowers are white, the outer surface sometimes tinged purple, ~½ inch (to 15 mm) diameter, the 5 petals fused into a short tubular base, petals flaring out revealing wiry bearded hairs on the inner surface. 5 white stamens with dark reddish to black tips are attached to the tube wall, alternating with the petals; a long slender style emerges from the tube. The calyx cupping the flower has 5 or 6 lobes about half as long as the floral tube. Flower stalks and the calyx are all hairless.
Leaves and stem:
Leaves are basal, palmately compound in 3s at the end of a stalk 4 to 12 inches (10 to 30 cm) long, sometimes a few inches away from the flowering stem. Leaflets are stalkless or nearly so, more or less elliptic, mostly widest at or above the middle, 1¼ to 2½ inches (3 to 6 cm) long and to 1 inch wide at flowering time, enlarging up to 6 inches (12 cm) long later in the season. Surfaces are hairless, edges are smooth to shallowly scalloped. The compound leaf stalk is smooth and mostly erect. Colonies typically form from spreading rhizomes.
Fruit: 
Fruit is a round, thick-walled capsule about 1/3 inch (6 to 9 mm) long, maturing from green to brown, containing numerous yellow-brown seeds.
Notes:
Buckbean is a circumboreal species, native across much of the northern hemisphere, found in bogs, swamps, floating mats and other wet places, in saturated soil or shallow water. I often say bogs have the coolest plants, and this one is near the top of the list when that thought crosses my mind. I'll never know what evolutionary event happened to cause those long hairs on the petal surface, so I'll just sit back and admire the wonders of nature. It is unlikely to be confused with any other species. Even when flowers are not present, the unique leaves give it away, and where you see one, you're likely to see dozens, even hundreds. Cool.
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More photos
Photos by K. Chayka taken in Aitkin County. Photos by Peter M. Dziuk taken in Aitkin, Anoka and Beltrami counties.
Comments
Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?
on: 2013-06-13 18:07:39
Grows in a bog behind our property on the Lax Lake Rd., just outside Finland.
on: 2014-06-08 16:47:50
Many plants left side of dock
on: 2015-05-26 21:50:40
We have it in a lovely little bog near our home!
on: 2016-05-15 22:53:59
Found two clumps of these in the Quaking Bog at Theo Wirth Park in Minneapolis today (Sun, May 15, 2016, around 5pm).
on: 2017-05-20 15:57:30
Several plants found at Sundew Pond at Lake Bemidji State Park in mid-May. (5/19/17) This is a lovely wildflower, although it took some time to identify it!
on: 2018-06-27 20:26:09
Along wetland margin on east side of CR 39 just north of MN. hwy. 113 in Becker Cty, near Long Lost Lake. 2016-2018
on: 2018-07-26 15:11:24
Have seen one plant in a bog on our land.
on: 2020-06-08 20:30:09
Very plentiful in the bogs and on the lakeshores of this area. Had good company with Bog Laurel and Pitcher Plants. There is a bogwalk on Divide Lake where you can also find Sundew.
on: 2020-06-10 19:19:38
Found it in one of the bays on 6/9/2020 while kayaking.
on: 2022-05-30 09:42:44
There are many of these in bloom along the boardwalk at Tamarack Nature Preserve. I've seen these before at the Quaking Bog at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, but never close enough to notice their interesting leaves.
on: 2024-05-16 02:04:33
We saw it in a Tamarack Swamp in Lebanon Hills Regional Park just west of Holland Lake.
on: 2024-06-28 07:51:49
We enjoyed seeing this plant along the entrance road into the park over Memorial weekend.