GENTIAN FAMILY 185 



becoming a mostly 1-celled 1-seeded fruit with a long wing 

 from the end. 



1. FRAXINUS. Ash. 

 Two species of Ash grow at El Portal and elsewhere so 

 near the Park boundary that they should perhaps be included. 

 The Oregon Ash (F. oregona Nutt.) is a fair-sized tree, with 

 leaves 6 to 12 in. long, each with 5 to 7 oblong or oval leaflets 

 2 to 5 in. long, the flowers without corollas. The Flowering 

 Ash (F. dipetala H. & A.) is a large, rounded shrub, 5 to 15 

 ft. high, with leaves 3 to 6 in. long, each with 3 to 9 leaflets 

 1 or 2 in. long, each flower with 2 white petals. 



GENTIANACEAE. Gentian Family. 



Glabrous herbs with opposite entire sessile leaves and no 



stipules. Flowers regular, conspicuous. Stamens inserted on 



the tube of the corolla, as many as its lobes and alternate with 



them. Ovary 1-celled, with a single style, the seeds numerous. 



Leaves simple, entire, sessile. 



Flowers pink; slender annual 1. Erythraea. 



Flowers bluish or greenish. 



Stems not 2 ft. high 2. Gentiana. 



Stems 3 to 5 ft. high; petals with fringed glands 3. Frasera. 



Leaves compound, long-stalked; marsh plant 4. Menyanthes. 



1. ERYTHRAEA. Canchalagua. 



1. E. venusta Gray. Leaves ovate or lanceolate, acute, 34 

 in. or less long. Calyx-lobes slenderly linear, parted nearly 

 to base. Corolla with very short narrow tube, the spreading 

 oval deep-pink lobes Y% or ^2 in. long. Anthers exserted 

 from the tube, becoming spirally twisted. 



The Canchalagua is a slender annual, 3 to 12 in. high, the 

 single stem branching only above, where it bears a loose, 

 showy cluster of bright-pink flowers with yellow centers. It 

 is common in the foothills, extending into the mountains as 

 far as Wawona, Yosemite, and Hetch Hetchy valleys and 

 Rancheria Mt. (5500 ft.). Settlers use it in the treatment of 

 malaria and other fevers. 



2. GENTIANA. Gentian. 

 Erect herbs with showy flowers. Corolla funnelform. 

 Style very short or none; stigma of two spreading lobes. 



Calyx naked; slender annuals. 

 Flower solitary, 1 in. long. 



Seeds rough 1. G. detonsa. 



Seeds smooth 2. G. simplex. 



Flowers many, y 2 in. long 3. G. amarella. 



