GENTIAN FAMILY. Qentianacem. 



GENTIAN FAMILY. Gentianacece.. 



Smooth herbs with generally opposite leaves, toothless 

 and stemless; Menyanih.es and Limnanthemum are two 

 exceptions to this rule. Flowers regular and perfect, 

 the corolla with 4-12 lobes; alternating with these are a 

 corresponding number of stamens. Fertilized mostly by 

 the bees and the beelike flies. 



An erect and smooth annual naturalized 



esser from Europe, with several short branches 



Erythrcea above, and elliptical or oblong light green 



Centaurium leaves, somewhat acute ; the uppermost 

 Light magenta rather linear. The small tubular light 



une ~ magenta flowers five-lobed and very nearly 



stemless. They are numerously borne at 

 the summits of the branches. 6-12 inches high. Waste 

 places and the shores of the Great Lakes, from Quebec 

 to Illinois. The name Erythrcea is from the Greek, 

 meaning red. The flowers are weak in color, and the 

 plants are really more delicate than beautiful. 



„ „ A small species from Europe similar in 



Erythrcea r k \ ■ 



ramosissima man J respects to the foregoing, but the 

 Magenta-pink stem very much branched, the leaves oval 

 June- or long-ovate, the larger lower ones blunt, 



September the upper small and acu t e . The flowers 

 are magenta-pink, and, with few exceptions, distinctly 

 stemmed. The tube of the corolla is nearly twice as 

 long as the five lobes of the calyx. 3-8 inches high. 

 Waste places or fields, wet or shady, from southern 

 N. Y. to east Pa. and Md. 



An erect and smooth annual naturalized 

 Spiked from the old country, with small, blunt, 



E^thrcea oblong, light green leaves ; the upper ones 



spicata rather acute, and all more or less close to 



Magenta-pink the generally forking stem. The very 

 June ~ small magenta-pink, or crimson-magenta 



ep em er fl owers tubular and five-lobed, stemless 

 and also close to the plant-stem, the tube of the corolla 

 a little longer than the calyx-lobes. 6-16 inches high. 

 Shores of Nantucket, Mass., and Portsmouth, N. H. 



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