

The American Botanist 



VOL. XXV. May 1919 No. 2 



[n the apple orchard, now. 

 Every hough 



Is a fragrant cloud of bloom 

 Whence the zephyr lightly shakes 

 ^lossom flakes 



Snow-like, scattering perfume. 



— Sherman 



THE ARCTIC GENTIAN 



By Mrs. Bi^anche H. Soth. 



THE Arctic gentian (Gentiana Romansovii) is always a 

 curiosity to those who know only the deep blue gentians 

 of lower altitudes. It is pale cream color, freely spotted and 

 streaked with purple. The blossoms are large, sometimes two 

 inches long, but they are very short-stemmed so that they do 

 not rise much above their nests of thickish sheathing leaves. 



This gentian occurs only on alpine peaks and in the 

 Arctic regions and is found in Asia as well as in America. It 

 blooms late in the alpine summer in the moister places among 

 the sedges and grasses of the meadows above timberline. It 

 withstands considerable freezing and is often in full bloom 

 after the grasses have ripened and the willows and aspens in 

 the valley far below are flaming in their autumn colors. 



Growing with the gentian may be found red orpine, 

 little red elephant and mountain avens. The foliage of these 

 three plants turn a ruddy hue in ripening so that the patches 

 containing the gentians are gorgeous in September. They 

 are often an acre or more in extent and gleam in the clear 

 sunshine of the mountain autumn like gems set in the golden 

 grass that slopes down from the towering ruddy crags to the 

 dark fringe of conifers at timbeline, 2000 feet below. 



