382 



" I have the pleasure to enclose herewith a fresh specimen of that large-flowered 

 variety, or whatever it be, which I first gathered near Tring, in Herts, and which some 

 have since considered, I believe, Gentiana germanica of Reichenbach and others. 



" I add one or two plants of the common state of Gentiana Amarella, for your 

 comparison.'' 



At last, then, I had in my possession a veritable example of the 

 wished-for plant, as well as additional materials for comparison, and 1 

 at once resolved to go to work. The first step to be taken in the 

 enquiry was obviously that of consulting Willdenow, the original au- 

 thority for Gentiana germanica. The characters assigned by him to 

 the two plants, omitting the synonymes, are the following : — 



38. Gentiana germanica, W. Corolla 5-cleft, salver-shaped, bearded, segments of 

 the limb ovate, acute : leaves ovate-lanceolate : branches longer than the internodes. 

 — •' Species Plantarum,' Berolini, 1797. P. 1346. 



39. Gentiana Amarella. Corolla 5-cleft, salver-shaped, bearded, segments of the 

 limb lanceolate, acute : leaves lanceolate : branches shorter than the internodes. 



Differing from the preceding in its whole habit, shorter branches, narrower and 

 smaller corolla, lanceolate leaves and pale yellow root (radice j^am). — Id. 1347. 



Here, it will be observed, nothing is said about the stipitate ovarium 

 of G. germanica, or the sessile one of G. Amarella. Willdenow's 

 distinctive characters are founded chiefly on differences in the shape 

 of the segments of the corolla, in the form of the leaves, and in the 

 relative length of the branches and internodes. He also, in the re- 

 marks above quoted after G. Amarella, applies to its root the same 

 term {Jlava) as Froelich, in the following description of his G. Ama- 

 rella, applies to its root. Froelich's G. Amarella is quoted by Will- 

 denow as a synonyme of G. germanica. 



Froelich's description of the plant being very full, I shall give it 

 entire, omitting only his synonymes. 



33. Gentiana Amarella. Corolla 6-cleft, salver-shaped, acute, throat bearded ; seg- 

 ments of the calyx sub-equal. 

 Hab. in the meadows of Europe. Annual. Flowers in the autumn. 



Root simple, fibrous, pale yellow, {flava). Stem erect, obsoletely hexagonal, pur- 

 plish, leafy, branched in a brachiate manner ; branches opposite, single-flowered, leafy, 

 frequently many-flowered, of the same height as the plant ; frequently more simple, 

 few-flowered, not longer than the corolla. Radical leaves numerous, lying on the 

 ground, obovate, obtuse, narrowing into a petiole, obscurely 3-nerved, withering ; stem- 

 leaves sessile, slightly connate at the base, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, more or less acute, 

 rough at the margin, 3-nerved ; upper stem-leaves and those on the branches sub-cor- 

 date, acute. Flowers terminal and axillary, solitary or two together, erect, an inch 

 long (shorter in small plants), peduncles erect, angular, shorter than the flower. Ca- 

 lyx campanulate, marked with fifteen raised lines, 5-clcft beyond the middle, about 



