GENTIAN FAMILY 



89 



Pig. 332. Gentiana amabella L. 

 var. ACUTA Herder, a, 6, habit, X % ; 

 c, long. sect, of fl., X 3 ; d, stamen with 

 portion of corolla-tube, X 4^/4. 



or oblong, % to II/2 inches long, the basal spatulate-obovate, shortei-; flowers 1 to 

 3 in the axils or terminal, on pedicels 3 to 11 lines long; calj'x about half as long as 

 the corolla, deeply lobed; corolla tubular, 4 to 6 

 lines long, its lobes pale or dark blue, about 14 

 as long as the tube, bearing below the middle a 

 series of slender fimbriae. 



Damp or boggy meadows, 4500 to 8700 (or 

 10,900) feet: San Bernardino Mts.; Sierra Ne- 

 vada from Tulare Co. to Plumas Co.; Trinity 

 Mts. North to Alaska, east to New ]\Iexico and 

 Labrador. June-Sept. 



Locs. — San Bernardino Mts.: Mill Creek, B. J. 

 Smith; Bear Valley, Edmund Heller; Bluff Lake, J. Grin- 

 nell 101. Sierra Nevada: Kern Caflon, Jepson 10-18; 

 Line Creek, Huntington Lake, Jepson 13,084 ; Tuolumne 

 Mdws., Bolander 5045 ; Tallac, Lake Tahoe, Jepson 8088 ; 

 Truckee, Sonne; Jonesville, Butte Co., Copeland ; Big 

 Mdws., Plumas Co., K. M. Austin. 



Pield note. — In Eock Creek Lake Basin, western 

 Inyo Co., Gentiana amarella var. acuta is abundant and 

 reaches an elevation of about 10,900 feet. The plants 

 are sometimes very small, only 2 or 3 inches high. At 

 certain stations these small plants are the only ones to 

 be found. — P. W. Peirson. 



Refs.— Gentiana amarella L., Sp. PI. 230 (1753), 

 type European. Var. acuta Herder, Act. Hort. Petrop. 

 1:428 (1872) ; Jepson, Man. 763 (1925). G. a^-iita Michx., 

 PI. Bor. Am. 1:177 (1803), type from eastern N. Am. 

 Amarella copelandii Greene, Lflts. 1:53 (1904), type loc. 

 Mt. Eddy, Copeland 3489. A. calif ornica Greene, I.e. 54, 



Plumas and Butte Cos., R. M. Austin. A. lembertii Greene, I.e. 54, "Yosemite Valley," Lembert; 

 (the collections of J. B. Lembert, though sent from Yosemite Valley, were frequently made above 



Yosemite, especially at Tuolumne Mdws.,' where he built 

 a cabin and lived for long). 



4. G.tenellaRottb. Danes Gentian. (Fig. 

 333. ) Stem branched from the base, 2 to 4 inches 

 high; branches ending in long naked l-flowered 

 peduncles, the leaves basal and subbasal; leaf- 

 blades narrowly obovate to oblong, 3 to 6 lines 

 long; flowers 31/2 to 6 lines long; calyx-lobes un- 

 equal, slightly more than % length of corolla; 

 corolla white, or greenish outside and pale blue 

 inside the lobes, bearing a cro-mi of deeply la- 

 ciniate scales at the base of the lobes, the lobes 

 about 1/2 length of the tube, slightly hooded at 

 apex; stamens much shorter than corolla-tube, 

 their filaments almost wholly adnate. 



Moist meadows, 8500 to 11,000 feet : east side 

 of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo Co. Also in the 

 northern White Mts., Nevada. East to Arizona 

 and Colorado, north to Alaska. Arctic regions 

 around the earth. July- Aug. 



Geog. note. — In the relative lengths of corolla-lobes, 

 corolla-tube and calyx, and in all other details of the 

 flowers, leaves and habit, our plants correspond closely 

 with plants inhabiting Sweden and other northern coun- 

 tries. The flowers, says P. W. Peirson, are strictly diurnal ; in early morning or late afternoon not 

 an open flower can be found. Two California localities are known. Heart Lake, Eock Creek, 

 w. Inyo Co., Peirson 9482, and Mirror Lake, Mt. Whitney (Lflts. W. Bot. 1:16), but it has also 

 been found in Esmeralda Co., Nev. (Chiatovitch Creek, n. White Mts., Duran 3105). 



Fig. 333. Gentiana TENELLARottb. 

 a, habit, X % ; b, corolla spread open, 

 with pistil and calyx, X 3 ; c, calyx 

 spread open, X 2. 



