VY iB. 4 27 
GENTIANA Moorcrortiana. 
Native of the Western Himalaya. 
Nat. Ord. GENTIANEZ.—Tribe SwERTIER. 
Genus Gentiana, Linn.; (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. ii. p. 815.) 
Gentian (Amarella) Moorcroftiana ; annua, caule erecto gracili a basi ramoso, 
ramis suberectis v. adscendentibus flexuosis laxe foliosis, foliis sessilibus oblongis 
lineari-oblongis ellipticisve obtusis v. subacutis enerviis, floribus solitariis v. in 
ca cymas laxifloras dispositis gracile pedicellatis, calycis tubo subeampanulato lobis 
a linearibus elongatis, corolla infundibulari coerulea, fauce nuda, lobis ovatis 
ee subacutis, capsula lanceolata pedicellata inclusa, seminibus minutis subglobosis, 
- testa levi. 
G. Moorcroftiana, Wall. Cat. 4390; Griseb. Gentian. 243, et in DC. Prodr. 
vol. ix. p. 96, excl. syn.; Clarke in Journ. Linn, Soe. vol. xiv. p. 433, 
et in Fl. Brit. Ind, vol. iv. p. 108. 
The Gentians of the Himalaya, of which there are no 
fewer than thirty-seven described species, many of them of 
extraordinary beauty, are, with scarcely an exception, 
strangers to European gardens. The only one hitherto 
‘figured in this Magazine is G. ornata (Plate 6514) ; for 
G. decumbens (Plates 705 and 723) and G. detonsa (Plate 
639), though also Himalayan, were both of them figured 
from specimens procured from other countries. A few 
hitherto unfigured are however in cultivation, thanks to 
the exertions of Mr. Elwes; and no doubt before many 
years are over a goodly number of species will adorn our 
rockworks and borders. My impression, however, 1s that 
beautiful as many of the Himalayan species are, none 
compare with those of our own alps in brilliancy of blue. 
This may be due to the fact of these all flowering during 
the rains, which deluge the Indian mountains throughout 
the summer months. ae é 
G. Mooreroftianais a near ally of the British G. campestris, 
and like it is an annual. It is confined to the extreme 
west of the Himalaya, to Kashmir, Western Tibet, and the 
immediately neighbouring provinces, where it 1s common 
- DECEMBER Ist, 1883. aN 
ee 
