GENTIAN FAMILY 



87 



Moist sandy flats or alkaline meadows in valleys, 500 to 1500 feet : cismontane 

 Southern California; west side of the Colorado Desert. East to Florida, south to 

 Lower California and Venezuela. Aug.-Dec. 



Loc3. — Santa Ana Canon near Olive, Orange Co., 

 Laura 0. Dodge; San Bernardino, Parish; Riverside, 

 Hall 2672; Palm Sprs. of San Jacinto, Gilman 23; 

 Vallecito, e. San Diego Co., Jepson 8535. 



Eef a. — EusTOMA exaltatum Griseb. ; DC, Prod. 

 9:51 (1845). Gentiana exaltata L., Sp. PI. ed. 2, 

 331 (1762), type American. E. silenifolium Salisb., 

 Parad. Lond. t. 34 (1805), type loc. "in Ins. Provi- 

 dence," M. Catesby; Parish, Erythea 6:89 (1898); 

 Jepson, Man. 762 (1925). 



4. GENTIANA L. Gentian 



Herbs with opposite sessile leaves and usu- 

 ally showy flowers. Calyx 4 or 5-cleft. Co- 

 rolla campanulate or funnelform, commonly 

 blue, the lobes 4 or 5 and often with teeth or 

 plaited folds in their sinuses. Stamens in- 

 serted on the tube of the corolla (at the middle 

 or below), included. Style short and persist- 

 ent, or none; stigmas 2. Capsule oblong, en- 

 closed in the withering-persistent corolla; 

 seeds small, very numerous with a loose cel- 

 lular or winged coat. — Species about 300, all 

 continents except Africa. (Gentius, king of 

 Illyria, who discovered the tonic properties of 

 these herbs.) 



Annuals or biennials ; calyx-tube without an inner 

 membrane. 

 Corolla without teeth or lobes in the sinuses ; leaves not white-margined ; annuals. 



Corolla-lobes without a crown at base ; flowers solitary ; San Bernardino Mts. and Sierra 

 Nevada. 



Stems several from the base ; flowers long-peduncled 1. G. Tiolopetala. 



Stem one and simple; flowers short-peduncled 2. G. simplex. 



Corolla-lobes with a fimbriate crown at base. 



Flowers clustered; plants 1 to 1% feet high; cismontane, rarely transmontane in 



Cal 3. G. amarella. 



Flowers solitary; plants 2 to 4 inches high; transmontane (Inyo and Mono Cos.).... 



4. G. ienella. 

 CoroUa with lobes in the sinuses ; flowers solitary ; leaves white-margined ; biennials. 



Capsule exserted from the corolla on a long stipe ; dehiscing at apex and becoming trum- 

 pet-shaped; corolla-tube not exceeding the calyx; San Bernardino Mts 



5. G. fremontii. 

 Capsule included in the corolla, linear-oblong ; corolla twice as long as the calyx ; White 



Mts 6. G. prostrata. 



Perennials ; calyx-tube with an inner membrane which projects slightly above the insertion of the 

 lobes ; leaves (at least the lower cauline) with connate sheaths at base 1 to 3 lines long. 



Alpine dwarf, 1% to 2 inches high 7. G. newberryi. 



Stems % to 2 feet high, leafy. 



Uppermost pair of leaves forming an involucre about the terminal 1 to 5-flowered cluster; 

 sinus appendages lacerate. 

 Involucrate leaves united below (at least on one side) ; corolla-lobes apiculate ; 



North Coast Ranges 8. G. setigera. 



Involucrate leaves scarcely united; coroUa-lobes obtuse; Sierra Nevada and Trinity 



Mts 9. G. calycosa. 



Uppermost pair of leaves often approximating the flowers but quite distinct. 

 Sinuses of the corolla with teeth or lobes. 



Calyx-lobes oblong to ovate-lanceolate, subequal; North Coast Ranges and 



Shasta Co 10. G. oregana. 



Calyx-lobes linear to narrow-lanceolate, unequal ; Modoc Co 11. G. affinis. 



Sinuses of the corolla without lobes or appendages; north coast 12. G. sceptrum. 



Pig. 329. EusTOilA EXALTATUM Griseb. 

 a, base of plant, X %; b, upper part of 

 plant, X %; c, long. sect, of fl., X 1; d, 

 cross sect, of ovary, X 3; e, dehiscing 

 capsule, X 1. 



