446 GENTIANEZ. [Gentiana. 
2. GENTIANA, Linn. 
Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite. Flowers axillary 
and terminal, solitary or cymose, usually conspicuous. Calyx tubu 
lar or cup-shaped, 5- or rarely 4-lobed. Corolla subrotate or cam- 
panulate or tubular or funnel-shaped ; lobes 5-4, in species not found . 
in New Zealand often with folds between the lobes. Stamens 5-4, 
inserted on the corolla-tube, included; anthers oblong or ovate. 
Ovary l1-celled, with 2 parietal placentas; style short or almost 
wanting ; stigmas 2, persistent, recurved ; ovules numerous. Cap- 
sule stalked or sessile, ellipsoid to narrow-oblong, 2-valved to the 
base. Seeds small, globose or oblong. 
A large and beautiful genus, probably including not far from 250 well- 
ascertained species. It is niost abundant in the temperate and alpine regions 
of the Northern Hemisphere, exiends along the chain of the Andes throughout 
South America, is sparingly found in Australia and Tasmania, and is plentiful in 
New Zealand, except in the northern half of the North Island. The species are 
in all countries highly variable and difficult of discrimination, but nowhere more 
so than in New Zealand, where they are peculiarly unstable, presenting a be- 
wildering multitude of closely allied forms, to arrange which systematically is 
a most perplexing task. The late Baron Mueller solved all difficulties by 
uniting the whole of the Australian and New Zealand species, together with 
several from South America, under Forster’s G. sazosa; but this extreme 
view has not received the sanction of any other botanist of repute, and is 
entirely repudiated by New Zealand workers. Since the publication of the 
Handbook the only attempt that has been made to deal with the New Zea- 
land forms as a whole is Mr. Kirk’s ‘‘ Revision’? (Transactions N.Z. Inst. 
XXvii. 330), in which 10 species are admitted. In the following arrangement I 
have increased this number to 16, in several cases unwillingly. but there is 
really little choice between giving the rank of species to a considerable number 
of closely allied forms or of reducing the whole of them to two or three com- 
prehensive aggregates. In the latter case it would be necessary to distinguish 
the forms as varieties, which is practically the same arrangement under a dif- 
ferent name. Owing to their extreme variability, the student will find it 
difficult to identify the species until he has collected a large series of specimens 
from widely separated localities, and has thus become acquainted with the 
range and trend of variation. I have to acknowledge the valued aid afforded by 
Mr. N. E. Brown, who has kindly compared many of my specimens with those 
at Kew and in the British Museum Herbarium. 
A. Annual, dwarf, 1-8 in. high. Flowers solitary at the tips of the branches. 
Calyz-lobes broadly ovate. 
Stems simple or sparingly branched. Leaves mostly 
cauline, 4-4in. long. Flowers}4in.diam. .. .. 1. G. filtpes. 
B. Perennial, dwarf, 1-4in. high. Flowers solitary, terminating naked scapes. 
Calyx-lobes linear-subulate. 
Stems densely tufted. Leaves all radical, narrow-linear, 
4-3in. Flowers 4in. diam. 2s ae .. 2. G. lineata. 
C. Annual, slender, 3-14in. high. Leaves mostly cauline. Flowers 4-4in. diam. 
Calyz-lobes linear-subulate. 
Stems weak, sparingly branched. Leaves oblong-spathu- 
late, thin .. i ow ae = .. 3. G. Grisebachu. 
