GENTIAN FAMILY 



In fact the Sabatia is so dear to the heart of Nantucketers 

 that they feel the flower to be peculiarly their own property. 

 But it is also interesting to scientists; for in "the cut of 

 the jib" of leaves and flowers there is so much variation 

 that botanists have argued long over its specific name. 

 Mr. Bicknell has solved the problem very skillfully. He 

 says : 



"The Nantucket plant, while in many examples quite 

 typical, is mostly reduced in size and little branched, with 

 the leaves in many cases relatively short and broad, fre- 

 quently, indeed, exactly oval throughout or the long ones 

 ovate. 



"The specific distinction of Sabatia gracilis (Salisb.) 

 (Sabatia campanulata (L.) Torr) from Sabatia stellaris 

 (Pursh.) seems to be not well supported by the characters 

 that have been mainly relied upon for its separation. As 

 points of difference that are not at all constant are to be 

 found in the more or less divided style, the longer or shorter 

 calyx lobes, the broader or the narrower leaves. Actually 

 all of these differences are unstable to a very marked 

 degree. Much less so are two other characters which, 

 indeed, seem to be almost always sharply distinctive al- 

 though they have been little emphasized in descriptions. 

 In Sabatia stellaris the main stem leaves, broadest at or 

 above the middle, are distinctly narrowed to the base and 

 the usually acute apex and the entire plant, unless care- 

 fully pressed, readily turns black in drying. Sabatia 

 gracilis, on the contrary, shows little or no discoloration 

 on the herbarium sheet, and the commonly obtuse leaves 

 linear oblong, oval or low on the stem, usually ovate, are 

 broadly sessile or sub-clasping. It is also worthy of 

 remark that the leaves of the Sabatia stellaris, although 

 the more fleshy in life, become more membranous in the 

 dried specimens and more distinctly reticulate-veined." 



303 



