Although feather gentian has been suggested as a desirable com- 

 mon name for this species, to avoid possible confusion with the 

 fringed gentian (G. crinitob) of the East, Gentiana elegcms is al- 

 ways known as fringed gentian in the West, and it seems desirable 

 to continue use of the latter name, though adding some modifying 

 word, such as western, to distinguish it from its more advertised 

 eastern cousin. Western fringed gentian, sometimes called Rocky 

 Mountain fringed gentian, an annual herb of the gentian family 

 (Gentianaceae), is one of the commonest of the range gentians and 

 one of the most beautiful of western wild flowers. The specific 

 name elegcms is a Latin adjective meaning elegant (literally, elect, 

 or choice). This species grows in the mountains at elevations of 

 from about 6,000 to 13,000 feet, ranging from the Mackenzie River in 

 northwestern Canada southward to Arizona and New Mexico. It 

 prefers rich, moist, loam soils on open or partially shaded sites, 

 being commonly associated with rushes and sedges. Western fringed 

 gentian produces its handsome showy flowers chiefly during July 

 and August. It occurs most commonly in the wet alpine and sub- 

 alpine meadows of the higher mountains, and sometimes grows in 

 such profusion that its gorgeous blue flowers emblazon wide stretches 

 of landscape in almost ultramarine glory. 



The gentians as a group this species is no exception are rela- 

 tively low in palatability, being seldom better than poor cattle 

 forage and fair sheep feed. However, western fringed gentian, 

 which is so common on the higher ranges where sheep usually graze, 

 furnishes considerable feed, although fundamentally not a good 

 forage plant. In its native habitat, this plant possesses a high 

 aesthetic value. It is particularly abundant in Yellowstone National 

 Park and lends picturesque beauty to that playground. Being a 

 plant of the higher elevations, it is not adapted to cultivation at 

 the lower altitudes, where flower gardens customarily are located, 

 and hence is apparently unknown to the horticultural trade. This 

 species is probably the commonest and best known of those annual 

 western gentians which have their flower parts in fours and the 

 corolla lobes more or less fringed the fringed gentians (section, 

 subgenus or genus Anthopogon) . 



Unfortunately, the taxonomy of this gentian is greatly confused. 

 In early American botanical manuals the species was misidentified 

 as the Old World G. serratasm error still perpetuated by some 

 authors. Rydberg 1 states that G. elegcms A. Nels. (1898) is a 

 synonym of the older G. thermalis O. Kuntze (1891), a species based 

 on depauperate material growing about hot springs. G. thermalis 

 may, therefore, be the correct name for this species but, for the time 

 being, it seems desirable to adhere to present usage in the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture. 



1 Rydberg, P. A. FLOKA OP THE KOCKY MOUNTAINS AND ADJACENT PLAINS . . . 1,110 

 pp. New York. 1917. 



