380 GENTIANACEAE (GENTIAN FAMILY) 



cleft, less than half as long as the corolla: corolla deep purple, 3-4 cm. long, 

 the lobes elliptic-obovate : stamens short; anthers sagittate, erect: style stout- 

 ish, scarcely longer than the ovary and shorter than the mature capsule. 

 Colorado. 



3. PLEUROGYNE Eschsch. 



Small annuals of cold regions, with blue or whitish flowers, and distinguished 

 by the remarkable decurrent stigmas. 



1. Pleurogyne fontana A. Nels. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 17: 177. 1904. 

 Glabrous throughout; stems slender, simple or with a few narrower erect 

 branches, 1-4 dm. high: leaves linear, mostly narrowly so, thin, with distinct 

 midrib and two faint lateral nerves, 20-25 mm. long: flowers in a narrow 

 somewhat panicled raceme, having long, very slender pedicels, pentamerous : 

 sepals green, linear, resembling the bracts but shorter, usually 3-nerved as 

 are also the bracts: corolla often surpassed by the sepals, its lobes elliptic- 

 oblong, subacute, about 5-nerved: stamens half as long as the corolla-lobes; 

 the anthers oblong: mature capsule translucent, with numerous ovules, ulti- 

 mately as long as the sepals. P. rotata. Colorado and Wyoming. 



4. CHONDROPHYLLA A. Nels. 



Small annuals or biennials, from a few cm. to 1 dm. high, the stems single 

 or several from the slender root. Leaves numerous, small, opposite, seem- 

 ingly imbricated below because of the short internodes, the margins white 

 and scarious or cartilaginous. Flowers solitary and terminal. Calyx narrow, 

 4 or 5-toothed. Corolla salverform when expanded, plicate at the sinuses 

 with broad emarginate lobes or plates, without crown or glands. Anthers 

 cordate, versatile. Seeds oblong, with a close coat. 



Leaves broadly scarious-margined; capsule at maturity exsert-stipitate 1. C. Fremontii. 

 Leaves narrowly margined; capsule short-stipitate . . . . 2. C. americana. 



1. Chondrophylla Fremontii (Torr.) A. Nels. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 31: 245. 

 1904. Stems few-many, erect or ascending, 5-10 cm. high, somewhat suc- 

 culent: leaves with a broad white margin, pale, cuspidate or mucronate; the 

 lower rosulate, orbicular or ovate; the cauline linear-oblong, connate-sheathing: 

 flowers rotate, short-pediceled, white or dull-colored : capsule clavate-obovate, 

 at length exserted beyond the flower on a stout stipe. Gentiana humilis. 

 Grassy banks in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. 



2. Chondrophylla americana (Engelm.) A. Nels. 1. c. Stems weaker than 

 in the preceding, and when elongated the lateral ones often procumbent: 

 leaves ovate, less erect, greener, and less white-margined: flower 4-merous: 

 corolla azure-blue, in fruit inclosing the linear-oblong, rather short-stipitate 

 capsule. Gentiana prostrata. Alpine in our range. 



6. GENTIANA L. GENTIAN 



Bitter herbs with conspicuous cymose or rarely solitary flowers of various 

 colors, in summer or autumn. Calyx 4-5-cleft. Corolla 4-5-lobed, regular, 

 often with intermediate plaited folds, which bear appendages or teeth at the 

 sinuses. Style short or none; stigmas 2, persistent. Capsule oblong, 2- 

 valved; the innummerable seeds either borne on placentae at or near the 

 sutures, or in most of our species covering nearly the whole inner face of the 

 pod. 



Annuals (except no. 2); corolla without extended plaits or lobes or 



teeth at the sinuses. 

 Flowers large (3-6 cm. long), 4-merous; corolla-lobes more or less 



fringed. 

 Annual . . . . . . . . . . . 1. G. elegans. 



Perennial 2. G. barbellata. 



