GENTIAN TRIBE. 413 



2-celled ; style 1 ; stigmas 2 ; fruit a many-seeded cap- 

 sule or berry. Mostly herbaceous plants, with, opposite, 

 generally sessile, leaves, and often large, brilliantly 

 coloured flowers. This is an extensive Order, containing 

 about 450 species, which are distributed throughout all 

 climates, from the regions of perpetual snow to the 

 hottest regions of South America and India. Though 

 able to bear the most intense cold, they are very rare 

 both in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Under the 

 equator, the lowest elevation at which they have been 

 found is 7,852 feet : on the Himalaya range, one species 

 has been found at a height of 16,000 feet ; another in 

 Ceylon at 8,000 feet : in southern Europe, one species, 

 Gentianaprostrata, nourishes at between 6,000 and 9,000 

 feet ; the same species occurs in the Rocky Mountains 

 of America at an elevation of 16,000 feet, and in the 

 Straits of Magellan and Behring's Straits, just above 

 the level of the sea. In South America and New 

 Zealand, the prevailing colour of the flower is red ; in 

 Europe, blue ; yellow and white being of rare occurrence. 

 All the known species are remarkable for the intensely 

 bitter properties residing in every part of the herbage, 

 hence they are valuable tonic medicines. That most 

 commonly used in Europe is Gentidna lutea (Yellow 

 Gentian) ; but there is little doubt that other species 

 might be employed with equally good effect. 



1. GENTIANA (Gentian). Calyx 4 5-cleffc ; corolla 

 funnel or salver-shaped ; stamens 5, rarely 4 ; stigmas 2. 

 (Name from Gentius, an ancient king of Illyria, who 

 discovered its medicinal value.) 



2. ERYTHEMA (Centaury). Calyx 5-cleft ; corolla 

 funnel-shaped, 5-cleft, not falling off; stamens 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.) 



3. CICENDIA (Gentianella). Calyx 4-cleft, tubular ; 

 corolla funnel-shaped, 4-cleft ; stamens 4 ; anthers not 

 twisted ; stigma undivided. (Name, according to Hooker 



