_Gentian Family_
Smooth herbs with opposite entire leaves, and regular perfect flowers
in clusters or solitary at the ends of the stems or branches. Calyx
4—12-lobed; corolla 4—12-parted; stamens as many as the lobes of the
corolla and alternate with them.
Corolla funnel-form or campanulate; without glands,
spurs or scales. =Gentiana.=
Corolla campanulate; spurred at the base. =Tetragonanthus.=
[Sidenote: =Gentiana acuta= Michx. _Northern Gentian._]
Stem leafy, slightly angled, simple or branched, 6—20 inches high.
Basal and lower leaves spatulate or obovate, obtuse, the upper
lanceolate, acuminate, rounded or subcordate at the base, sessile or
somewhat clasping, ½—2 inches long. Flowers numerous in clusters in
the axils of the upper leaves; pedicels ½—1 inch long, leafy bracted
at the base; calyx deeply 5-parted, lobes lanceolate; corolla tubular
campanulate, ½ an inch long, 5-parted, pale blue or greenish; lobes
lanceolate, acute each with a fimbriate crown at the base.
Along stream banks and grassy slopes throughout the Rockies, common;
flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Gentiana propinqua= Richards. _Four-parted Gentian._]
Stems slender, usually much branched from the base and sometimes also
above, slightly wing-angled, 2—7 inches long. Basal leaves spatulate
obtuse, the upper distant, oblong or lanceolate, ½—1 inch long, acute
or obtusish at the apex, rounded at the slightly clasping base,
obscurely 3-nerved. Flowers sometimes numerous, solitary on slender
peduncles, mostly 4-parted, ½—¾ of an inch high, seldom opening;
calyx 4-cleft, two of the lobes oblong, the others linear-lanceolate;
corolla blue or bluish, glandular within at the base, the lobes
ovate-lanceolate, entire or denticulate.
Frequent throughout the Rockies on slopes and open ground beside the
trails; flowering through July.
[Sidenote: =Gentiana prostrata= Haenke. _Dwarf Gentian._]
Stems slender, 1—5 inches long, when prostrate the lateral ones often
creeping. Leaves ovate, rather spreading, bright green with slightly
whitened edges. Flowers solitary, 4-parted, azure blue, ½ an inch high,
the lobes rather spreading.
A very small and rather rare plant found throughout the Rockies at the
higher altitudes, on the alpine slopes and summits; flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Gentiana glauca= _Pale-glaucous Gentian._]
Perennial; stems 2—4 inches high. Leaves oval, glaucous, ¼—½ an inch
long, obtuse, the basal forming a rosette. Flowers few or several
at the top of the stem, short-peduncled or nearly sessile, usually
subtended by a pair of bracts; calyx campanulate, the teeth shorter
than the tube; corolla blue or blue-green, ½ an inch or more long, the
tube cylindrical with short ovate obtuse lobes.
In wet alpine meadows and slopes throughout the region, a rather rare
but very striking little gentian, flowering in July.
[Sidenote: =Gentiana affinis= Griseb. _Large Gentian._]
Stems clustered, 6—12 inches high, mostly ascending. Leaves from oblong
or lanceolate to linear. Flowers from numerous and racemose to few and
almost solitary; calyx lobes linear or linear-awl-shaped, unequal, the
largest rarely equalling the tube; corolla an inch or less long, bright
blue or bluish; funnel-form, spotted inside with white, the lobes
ovate, acute, and spreading.
A showy species in damp open meadows in the lower valleys throughout
the Rockies, especially abundant at Banff; flowering during August.
[Illustration: Gentiana affinis Griseb. (⅔ Nat.) Large Gentian.]
[Illustration: Romanzoffia sitchensis Bong. (⅔ Nat.) Romanzoffia.]
[Sidenote: =Tetragonanthus deflexus= (J. E. Smith) Kuntze. _Spurred
Gentian._]
Annual, stems simple or branched, slender, erect, 6—20 inches high.
Basal leaves obovate or spatulate, obtuse, narrowed into petioles; stem
leaves ovate or lanceolate, acute, sessile, 3—5-nerved, 1—2 inches
long, the uppermost smaller. Flowers ¼ of an inch or more long, few,
on peduncles about their own length, in the axils of the upper leaves;
corolla purplish-green or white, 4—5-parted, the lobes ovate, acute,
each with a hollow deflexed or descending spur about half the length of
the corolla.
In moist places and shaded slopes throughout the Rockies; a rather
frequent but inconspicuous plant owing to its green colour; flowering
in July.