238 GENTIANE^ 



drooping feathery substances that form a rosette, whose purpose seems to be 

 that of confining down the overhanging parts of the anthers, without entirely 

 excluding the air, which can pass through the feathery nature of the crown." 

 These plants, propagating themselves freely by the root, seldom produce 

 seed-vessels. Mr. Curtis says, that he has never seen a single seed, nor has 

 the writer of these pages ever found one on the plants either of wood or 

 garden. But Miller observed that the plant may be made to produce its 

 seeds by cutting off all the lateral shoots. Tournefort, who examined the 

 plant in Provence, Languedoc, and near Lisbon, in all which places it is very 

 abundant, never saw it in fruit. 



Order LV. GENTIANE^— GENTIAN TRIBE. 



Calyx generally 5, sometimes 4 or 8-cleft, not falling off; corolla Avheel- 

 shaped, bell-shaped or funnel-shaped, with as many lobes as those of the 

 calyx, not falling off, twisted when in bud, often fringed about the mouth of 

 the tube ; stamens equalling in number the lobes of the corolla, and alternate 

 with them ; ovary of 2 carpels, 1 or imperfectly 2-celled ; style 1 ; stigmas 2 : 

 fruit a capsule or berry, many-seeded. This is a very extensive order, con- 

 sisting chiefly of herbaceous plants, with opposite, usually sessile leaves, and 

 with no stipules. Many of the flowers are very beautiful, and the plants of 

 the order are remarkable for their bitter stomachic properties. They are 

 distributed throughout all climates, several of them growing on mountains, 

 near the regions of perpetual snow. 



1. Gentian {Gentidna). — Calyx 4 — 5-cleft; corolla somewhat bell-shaped, 

 or funnel- or salver-shaped ; stamens 5 ; styles often combined. Name from 

 Gentius, an ancient king of Illyria, who discovered its medicinal properties. 



2. Gentianella {Cicdmlia). — Calyx 4-cleft ; corolla 4-cleft, funnel-shaped, 

 the tube swelling ; stamens 4 ; anthers opening lengthwise ; capsule 1-celled, 

 2-valved. Origin of name unknown. 



3. Centuary (Erythma). — Calyx 4 — 5-cleft; corolla funnel-shaped, 

 4 — 5-cleft, not falling off ; stamens 4 — 5 ; anthers becoming spirally twisted ; 

 stigmas 2 ; capsule nearly cylindrical, imperfectly 2-celled. Name from the 

 Greek erythros, red, from the colour of the flowers. 



4. Yellow-wort (Chldra). — Calyx deeply 6 — 8-cleft; corolla with a very 

 short tube, 6 — 8-cleft ; stamens 6 — 8 ; stigma 2 — 4-cleft. Name from the 

 Greek chloros, yellow, from the colour of the flowers. 



5. Buck-bean (Menydnthes). — Calyx deeply 5-cleft ; corolla funnel-shaped, 

 with 5 lobes, fringed all over the inner surface ; stamens 5 ; stigma 2-lobed. 

 Name of doubtful origin. 



6. VillArsia. — Calyx deeply 5-cleft ; corolla wheel-shaped, with 5 — 8 

 lobes, which are fringed only at the base ; stamens 5 — 8 ; stigma with 

 2 toothed lobes. Name in honour of M. de Villars, a French botanist. 



1. Gentian (Gentidna). 

 1. Marsh Gentian (G. pneumondnfhe). — Leaves linear, blunt; flowers 

 terminal and axillary, nearly sessile; corolla 5-cleft; perennial. This plant 

 is known, when in flower, from all the other Gentians by the fine broad, 



