CLOSED GENTIAN 



Corolla. — Oblong, club-shaped, bulging, an inch long, 

 dark blue at summit, paler in the middle and toward 

 the base. White lines at the mouth. Lobes plaited 

 so as to make a closed top, intervening appendages 

 slightly lobed; creases run half-way down to the base. 



Stamens. — Five, inserted on the tube of the corolla. 

 Anthers mature before stigma. 



Pistil. — Ovary one, large, flattened, oblong; stigmas 

 two; ovules many. 



Pollinated by bumblebees. 



The corolla of this Gentian is so definitely 

 closed against intruders, folded over at the 

 top so like the pocketbooks warranted to keep 

 silver coin from straying, that interest is at 

 once aroused as to what really is inside that is so 

 carefully guarded. Pushing one's way past the 

 closed door, possibly cutting down one side of 

 the floral wall, the inner treasures are revealed. 

 First of all is a large, pale green ovary, three- 

 quarters of an inch long, surmounted by two 

 white balls of stigmas and filled with an aston- 

 ishing number of ovules. Its size is such that 

 no wonder the corolla bulges, it has to. At- 

 tached to the inner walls of the corolla are five 



lOI 



