GENTIANACE.E 



GENTIANACE^E GENTIAN FAMILY 



Centaurium spicatum (L.), Fernald. 



Spiked Centaury. 

 Magenta-Pink 



August-September 



Centaurium: an old name from Latin, centum, a hundred, 

 and aurum, gold or a gold piece, variously applied by 

 the herbalists, but always in allusion, it is said, to the 

 priceless medicinal value. 



Spicatum: Latin, meaning furnished with spikes. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: salt marshes. 



THE PLANT: six inches to eighteen inches high; the stem 

 branched, hairless, slender. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; oblong to lanceolate; short in 

 proportion to the height of the stem; hairless on both 

 surfaces; obtusish at the apex; clasping at the base; entire. 



THE FLOWERS: less than one inch wide, in spike-like ra- 

 cemes on the mostly simple and leafless branches, wide 

 open; the tube of the corolla somewhat longer than the 

 calyx. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



A charming little flower that grows in sufficient quantity, 

 where it does condescend to grow, to give a deeper note 

 of pink to the already pinkish-purple-brown tints of the 

 salt marsh. The beautiful pink of the wide open Centaury 

 blends with the pale purple of the Seaside Gerardia and 

 the red-brown of the grasses, and makes the salt meadow 

 a spot of beauty. 



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