GENTIAN FAMILY 



that the hasty wayfarer expects nothing so dainty and 

 vernal and seldom notices it at all. It is the boldness of 

 innocence that inspires the fringed gentian to establish 

 itself right at the side of the path of the thoughtless. Any 

 October a little band of discerning vandals might destroy 

 it utterly, for it is an annual, and where it is once de- 

 stroyed it appears no more. Yet it has bloomed here 

 year after year, and no one has noted it except the ram- 

 bler whose devoutest prayer is that it may not be noted." 



— Carl T. Robertson. 



CLOSED GENTIAN. BOTTLE GENTIAN. 



Gentidna andrewsii 



Native, perennial. Bears flowers of a deep 

 clouded blue, and grows in wet, weedy places. 

 Common. Quebec to Northwest Territory, 

 south to Ohio. August-October. 



Stem. — Two to four feet high. Smooth, stout, often 

 stained with purple. 



Leaves. — Opposite, ovate to lanceolate; upper leaves 

 sessile, entire, lanceolate, with midrib only prominent. 



Flowers. — Dull purplish blue, an inch or more high, 

 set in clusters at the summit of the stem and in the 

 axils of the leaves. Occasionally pure white through- 

 out. 



Calyx. — Five-lobed; ovate, green touched with purple. 



lOO 



