MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 



229 



MACOUN'S GENTIAN 



Gciitiaiia MuLOnnii. Gentian Family 



Stems: slender, simple. Leaves: linear. Flowers: solitary at the ends 

 of elongated erect peduncles ; calyx-lobes lanceolate, acuminate, their 

 mid-ribs decurrent on the tube ; corolla narrowly-campanulate, its lobes 

 spatulate-oblong, fringed on both sides, and almost toothed around the 

 apex. 



A lovely deep blue Gentian, found in moist places, but not 

 very common. When the days begin to shorten and the earth 

 is flooded with the final glory of those scarlets and yellows 

 that precede and presage decay, then like a beautiful solemn 

 benediction the Gentians, "coloured with Heaven's own blue," 

 are spread abroad, opening their petals for a while to the sun- 

 shine at midday and closing them again suddenly at the first 

 touch of the chill winds that blow off the ice-fields. 



In the early fall of the year, 



" Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye 

 Look through its fringes to the sky. 

 Blue, blue, as if that sky let fall 

 A flower from its cerulean wall." 



There lies at all times a curious silvery tinge upon the 

 exterior of the four large fringed lobes of the corolla, which 

 are delicately and darkly veined. The two outer calyx-lobes 

 are longer and narrower than the two inner ones, and the 

 buds are very long and pointed. Whenever you try to pick 

 one of these Gentians, you will find that the whole plant 

 comes up out of the ground at the slightest pull. They are 

 extremely elusive flowers, seldom reappearing in the same 

 place for two consecutive years, since, being annuals, and 

 therefore perpetuated by seed alone, their reappearance the 

 following season depends altogether upon the direction of the 

 wind which blows the little hairy scales hither and thither, 

 and by good fortune deposits a few where the moist earth 

 enables them to "germinate. 



