GEN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



GEN 



601 



only one. Native of Switzerland, the Tyrol, Silesia, and 

 the Carpathian mountains. 



8. Gentiana Septemfida; Seven-deft Gentian. Corollas 

 seven, and five-cleft, with ciliate segments interposed ; leaves 

 ovate-acuminate, somewhat stem-clasping. Stem a foot or 

 eighteen inches in height, round, smooth, quite simple ; leaves 

 spreading, five-nerved ; flowers from the upper axils, usually 

 two together, and three at the top of the stalk, crowded to- 

 gether into a corymb, on short peduncles, the same size as in 

 the next species, the upper one flowering first. The whole 

 plant is smooth, but both herb and root are very bitter. 

 Native of the mountains of Persia, near the Caspian sea, 

 and of the Chersonesus Tanrica. 



9. Gentiana Asclepiadea ; Swallowwort-leaved Gentian. 

 Corollas five-cleft, bell-shaped, opposite, sessile; leaves 

 stem-clasping; stem upright, nearly a foot high; leaves 

 smooth, about two inches long, and three-quarters of an 

 inch broad at the base, where they embrace, and end in 

 an acute point; they are of a fine green, have five longitudi- 

 nal veins joining at both ends, but diverging at the middle, 

 and diminish in size as they are nearer the top ; flowers in 

 pairs, opposite, on short peduncles ; they are pretty large, 

 bell-shaped, and of a fine blue colour. It flowers with us in 

 July and August. This is the most tasteless and least bitter 

 of the genus. Native of Switzerland, Hungary, Stiria, Aus- 

 tria, Silesia, Piedmont, Barbary, Mount Caucasus, &c. It 

 requires a light loamy soil, with the same treatment as the 

 second species. Clusius states, that he introduced it as a 

 flower into his garden, but that it drooped, and lost much 

 of its native vigour and elegance. 



10. Gentiana Triflora; Three-flowered Gentian. Corollas 

 bell-shaped, five-cleft, aggregate-sessile ;leaves linear; floral- 

 leaves four, two longer and two shorter ; root fibrous ; root- 

 leaves none; stem upright, very straight, a span high, round, 

 furnished with very small leaves at bottom, becoming gradu- 

 ally longer higher up, decussately opposite ; they are stiff and 

 somewhat rigid, blunt at the end, and turned back at the 

 edge ; the largest are nearly three inches in length. Flowers 

 at the end of the stalk, in threes, and sometimes another pair 

 of them from the next axil of the leaves; calix purplish, un- 

 equally five-cleft, subspathaceous, cut more deeply on one 

 side; the segments linear, and sharp, alternately larger and 

 smaller ; tube of the corolla angular, whitish ; the border dark 

 blue, with subcordate blunt segments, distant at the base 

 from each other, with a right-lined interval; filamenta unequal; 

 antherse upright; germen fusiform, with a bifid stigma. It 

 is really different from the next species, with which it may 

 easily be confounded, from having a flower of the same co- 

 lour, by its being so stiffly upright and bitter. It flowers 

 in July and August, and is a native of eastern Siberia. 



11. Gentiana Pneumonanthe ; Marsh Gentian, or Cala- 

 tkian Violet. Corollas five-cleft, bell-shaped ; flowers pedun- 

 cled; leaves linear. Stem upright, about a foot high; leaves 

 smooth, an inch and a half long, and less than a quarter of 

 an inch broad ; they have no petioles ; flowers on the top of 

 the stalk, three or four in number, on peduncles, alternately 

 above each other ; they are large, and being of a deep blue 

 colour, make a fine appearance ; calix cylindric, or very ob- 

 scurely angular, with linear leaflets, often reflex at top, 

 scarcely a third of the length of the corolla, which is plaited 

 in angles of different shades of blue ; the tube paler, and 

 dotted within ; stigma revolute, and remarkably long. It 

 has the bitterness, and other qualities, of several among its 

 congeners. Native of Sweden, Denmark, England, Switzer- 

 land, Carniola, the Palatinate, Silesia, Piedmont, in the tem- 

 perate parts of Russia, and all Siberia, in moist meadows 



VOL. i. 51. 



and marshes. Ray found it near Lindau in Germany. It 

 is not common in the southern parts of Great Britain, but 

 much more so in the north. It has been found between 

 Clapham and Engleton, on Longfield downs near Gravesend, 

 near Greenhithe, Cobham, Hellingstone, and Dartford, in 

 Kent. Gerarde observed it near Bath ; and Parkinson, in 

 divers parts of the west of England. It abounds in Lincoln- 

 shire and Yorkshire, on boggy heaths, as on Nettleton Moor, 

 near Caster, in Tattershal park, and near Doncaster. Stil- 

 lingfleet saw it on Stratton Strawless heath, near Norwich; 

 it has also been observed near Milnthorp in Westmoreland ; 

 and is common all over Lancashire. This species does not 

 strike its roots so deeply into the ground as the Yellow Gen- 

 tian, and may be transplanted with less hazard, especially if 

 it be removed with a good ball of earth to the roots. It will 

 flower annually in a strong moist soil. 



12. Gentiana Saponaria; Soapivort-leaved Gentian. Co- 

 rollas five-cleft, bell-shaped, ventricose, in whorls ; leaves 

 three-nerved. This usually rises sixteen inches high, with 

 upright straight stems, having long, sharp-pointed, opposite 

 leaves, spreading horizontally ; from the axils of these come 

 out four or five blue flowers. It flowers in August and Sep- 

 tember. Native of North America. 



13. Gentiana Villosa; Hairy Gentian. Corollas five- 

 cleft, bell-shaped, ventricose ; leaves oblong, acuminate, 

 slightly villose ; flowers bell-shaped, ventricose, erect, pale 

 yellow, or white on the outside, and variegated with lines on 

 the inside. Native of Virginia. 



14. Gentiana Acaulis ; Dwarf Gentiana, or Gentianella. 

 Corolla five-cleft, bell-shaped, higher than the stalk; root 

 large, woody, branched ; a set of ovate-lanceolate leaves 

 spreads on the surface. Stem from one to three inches in 

 height, with one or two pairs of leaves on it, and terminated 

 by one very large upright handsome flower. There is some- 

 times more than one flower, in gardens, where the plant is 

 strong and healthy. This plant, in its natural alpine situ- 

 ation, has little or no stem, whence its trivial name ; but it ac- 

 quires one in a state of cultivation. It flowers in our gar- 

 dens in April and May, and sometimes a second time in au- 

 tumn. The flowering time in the Alps, is in June, July, and 

 August. Ray observed it growing upon the highest parts of 

 Mount Jura. Native of Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, and 

 Silesia. This species is commonly propagated by parting 

 the roots ; but it must not be often transplanted or parted : 

 in order to have it flower strong, it should have a loamy soil 

 and a shady situation. It may also be increased by seeds 

 sown in autumn ; in a good soil the plants will be strong 

 enough to flower the second year, and these seedling plants 

 will flower much stronger than those which are propagated 

 from offsets. Ray observes, that although it be a native of 

 the highest Alps, yet it readily admits cultivation; and that 

 it was much sought after in his time, by gardeners and flo- 

 rists, for the beauty of the flower. It is still much esteemed 

 for the brilliant azure of its flower, so large in proportion to 

 the size of the plant. The other alpine Gentianellas may be 

 increased and treated in the same manner. In common with 

 other alpine plants, they love a pure air, an elevated situa- 

 tion, and a loamy and moderately moist soil; so that it is 

 absolutely impossible that they should ever flourish in the 

 neighbourhbod of London. 



15. Gentiana Nana. Tufted Dwarf Gentian. Corolla 

 five-cleft, bell-shaped, bearded on the throat ; stem-leaves 

 ovate; root small, annual, very slender, bitterish ; stems in 

 tufts, from an inch to a span in height, seldom branched, 

 decumbent at bottom, then upright, jointed, leafy, terminated 

 by one flower; root-leaves four, seldom more, spreading on 



7 O 



