GENTIANACEAE GENTIAN FAMILY 
CLOSED GENTIAN 
Gentiana Andrewsii Griseb. 
The Closed Genetian is probably our commonest species, 
especially in the northern part of the state. It frequents moist 
grounds from Quebec to Manitoba, south to Georgia and Ne- 
braska. It is per- 
ennial and if un- 
disturbed will per- 
sist in the same 
place for many 
years, but unfortu- 
nately in most places 
very few seeds ma- 
ture because of the 
depredations of in- 
sects with which the 
plants are infested. 
Wherefore if the 
plants are pulled up 
in any place, they 
will likely be ex- 
tinct there for all 
time. 
The flowers are 
produced from Aug- 
ust to October in a terminal cluster and commonly in I or 2 of the 
upper axils. The calyx is tubular and 5-cleft. The tubular corolla 
is nearly or entirely closed, blue with white plaits or sometimes 
all white. The 5 stamens are included within the corolla and the 
anthers are grown together in a tube. The pistil consists of a 
1-celled ovary and a short style. The fruit is a capsule. 
The Prairie Gentian, Gentiana puberula Michx., is our only 
hairy-stemmed species. The rigid stem stands 5-20 inches high 
and bears many small, ovate-lanceolate and sessile leaves whose 
margins are roughened with short stiff hairs. The intensely blue 
flowers are large and borne in a terminal cluster. Their parts, like 
the rest of the plant, are rigid. The spreading ovate lobes of the 
corolla are 2 or 3 times the length of the cut-toothed appendages 
in the sinuses. This species lives on dry prairies from Maryland 
to Georgia, west to Minnesota and Kansas, and blooms in October. 
It is to be looked for here on original prairies in the northern half 
of the state. 
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