CL OSED GENTIAN 



disappearance within the bottle. Presently he 

 backs out, brushes the pollen from his head and 

 thorax into his baskets, and is off to fertilize an 

 older stigmatic flower with the few grains of 

 quickening dust that must remain on his velvety 

 head." 



Five-Flowered or Stiff Gentian, Gentiana quin- 

 quefolia has its small five-parted blue-pointed 

 flowers arranged in clusters not exceeding seven 

 at the end of the branches or seated in the leaf 

 axils. The slender branching stem may rise 

 only two inches in dry soil, perhaps two feet in 

 rich, moist, rocky ground, where it grows to 

 perfection, especially in mountainous regions. 

 From Canada to Florida and westward to Mis- 

 souri is its range, and its time varies from August 

 to October. 



103 



