602 



GEN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



GEN 



the ground ; both they and the stem-leaves smooth, quite 

 entire, bright green, sessile, flat ; calix cloven to the base, 

 green, smooth, the segments equal, lanceolate. Native of 

 Dauphiny, Savoy, Piedmont, and Silesia. 



16. Gentiana Exaltata; Crowned Gentian. Corollas five- 

 cleft, crowned, notched ; peduncle very long, dichotomous, 

 terminating. This rises with an upright branching stalk, 

 nearly two feet high ; leaves oblong, smooth, acute-pointed ; 

 the upper part of the stalk divides into several forks, between 

 which are six or seven long naked peduncles, each sustaining 

 one large blue flower. Native of the West Indies. Dr. Hous- 

 ton found abundance of it at La Vera Cruz, in low moist 

 places, where the water stagnates, remote from the coast. 

 This plant is propagated by seeds, sown on a hot-bed soon 

 after they are ripe. They must be treated in the same manner 

 as other tender annual plants from hot countries. If the seeds 

 be sown in autumn, in pots placed in the tan-bed in the stove, 

 they will succeed better than when sown in the spring; the 

 plants will flower early, and good seeds may be obtained. 



17. Gentiana Decumbens ; Creeping Gentian. Corollas 

 five-cleft, bell-shaped ; root-leaves very long, ten or more in 

 a bunch, linear-lanceolate, three-nerved; stalk decumbent; 

 root perennial ; stems one or two, coming out on the 

 side of the bunch of leaves, decumbent at bottom, then 

 rising, a span or foot in height, naked at bottom, a pair 

 of leaves in the middle, bearing leaves and flowers at the end ; 

 stem-leaves linear; flowers sessile, commonly three, terminat- 

 ing among the top leaves, and two pairs opposite, accompanied 

 also with leaves, seldom in threes. Sometimes the plant is 

 larger, the root-leaves nearly an inch in breadth, and the 

 flowers more in number; and sometimes there is a little axil- 

 lary branch with one flower on it at the lowest pair of sessile 

 flowers. It varies with a white and purplish corolla ; is ge- 

 nerally bitter and aromatic, and therefore medicinally used 

 in Thibet. Native of farther Siberia, where it begins to 

 flower in July, and continues till stopped by the frost. 



18. Gentiana Algida; Cold Gentian. Corollas five-toothed, 

 bell-shaped, sessile, dotted ; root-leaves in bunches ; root 

 perenuul; stem very straight, round, from a finger's length 

 to a span in height, with two or three pairs of broad, lanceo- 

 late, three-nerved leaves on it, slightly sheathing it at the base ; 

 flowers three or four together, sessile among the upper leaves, 

 with sometimes an accessory one or two from the next axil ; 

 calix purplish, cylindric, cut on one side, when the flower is 

 in maturity cloven half way down ; the segments linear, two 

 alternately larger than the rest ; seeds gray, scariose, and 

 wrinkled. The leaves next the root are collected into a 

 bunch ; they are pale green, juicy, tender, and linear-lanceo- 

 late. The whole plant becomes pale in drying. It is intensely 

 bitter, and proper to be used medicinally. Found on the 

 snowy alpine tops of eastern Siberia, and other parts of the 

 Russian empire, flowering in August. 



19. Gentiana Saxosa ; Stony Gentian. Corollas five-cleft, 

 bell-shaped ; leaves spatulate ; root perennial ; stem herba- 

 ceous, single, very seldom subdichotomous, slender, round, 

 grooved, erect, smooth and even, a hand or a span in height ; 

 peduncles two or three together, seldom four, from the top 

 of the stem, one-flowered, angular, from upright spreading, 

 two inches long; flowers white, and upright. Native of Dusky 

 Bay in New Zealand. 



20. Gentiana Montana; Mountain Gentian. Corollas five- 

 cleft, bell-shaped ; leaves heart-shaped, sessile. Found also 

 in Dusky Bay, New Zealand. 



21. Gentiana Glauca; Blue Gentian. Corolla five-cleft, 

 bell-shaped; flowers sessile; leaves ovate-rounded; root 

 filiform, slender, woody; root-leaves in a ring, thickish, with 



nerves scarcely visible ; stem simple, round, upright, from 

 two to four inches in height, having three or four pairs of 

 sessile leaves on it, which are somewhat fleshy, and smaller 

 than the root-leaves; flowers usually three, seldom one only, 

 at the end, together with an accessory pair from the upper- 

 most axils. There is a variety of this, in high exposed rocky 

 situations, with two or three flowers sitting close to the root- 

 leaves, without any stalk. The former flowers from June to 

 August, and ripens its seeds in September. It is a native of 

 the highest mountains of Kamtschatka. 



** Corollas Jive-clef t, or thereabouts, and funnel-shaped. 



22. Gentiana Verna ; Green Gentian. Corolla five-cleft, 

 longer than the stalk; root-leaves crowded, larger than the 

 others. This is a little plant, hardly two inches high. A per- 

 ennial yellow branched root, puts up several simple stalks, 

 each supporting one flower; root-leaves spread in a ring, 

 smooth, ovate-lanceolate ; on the stalk two or three pairs ; 

 calix five-cornered, half the length of the corolla; segments 

 of the corolla slightly serrate, either blue or beautifully deep 

 azure, and between each a small horned whitish blue pro- 

 cess ; capsule fusiform, long, bursting when touched. Lin- 

 neus observes, that this plant is scarcely bitter. It varies with 

 a white flower. A beautiful blue colour may be extracted from 

 the flowers, as they are more commonly found. Native of 

 Switzerland, Savoy, Piedmont, Austria, Carniola, and Silesia. 

 Ray found abundance of this plant on the mountains near 

 Geneva. It flowers early in the spring, both in moist mea- 

 dows, and in alpine situations. Clusius declares, that this 

 plant rejects all culture. 



23. Gentiana Pyrenaica ; Pyrenean Gentian. Corolla ten- 

 cleft, equal ; the outer divisions ruder than the others. This 

 plant strongly resembles the preceding species, but the 

 corolla is regularly ten-cleft; the segments blunt; the alter- 

 nate or outer ones green cm the outside, within all blue; 

 leaves linear or linear-lanceolate ; stalk perennial, procum- 

 bent, with upright branches, bearing one flower the length of 

 the branch. Native of the Pyrenees. 



24. Gentiana Altaica; Altaic Gentian. Corolla ten-cleft; 

 the clefts alternately smaller, and serrulate; stalk shorter than 

 the flowers ; root slender, two or three inches long; both 

 root-leaves and stem-leaves closely imbricate, subulate-linear, 

 sharp ; stem usually single, but sometimes two or three, 

 about an inch in length, somewhat naked under the flower, 

 with one pair of leaves near it. This is very nearly allied to 

 the preceding species, and, like that, is almost void of bitter- 

 ness. Native of the snowy cliffs of the Altaic Alps. 



25. Gentiana Pumila; Small Gentian. Corolla five-cleft, 

 subserrate ; leaves lanceolate-linear; stems one-flowered; 

 leaves sharp, scarcely four lines long, and one broad; stem 

 one-flowered, about an inch in height, with two pairs of 

 leaves, one near the calix, which is cloven halfway down, and 

 is angular, with five raised lines; tube of the corolla yellow- 

 ish, not plaited ; segments quite entire, with horned pro- 

 cesses. Native of the mountains of Dauphiny, Austria, and 

 Carniola. 



26. Gentiana Bavarica ; Bavarian Gentian. Corolla five- 

 cleft, serrate; leaves ovate-obtuse; root-leaves spreading in a 

 ring perfectly round ; stem often prostrate, three inches or more 

 in height, with eight or ten pairs of ovate leaves on many; 

 flower solitary, large; calix half the length of the tube of 

 the corolla, divided not more than a third of the way down, 

 into five sharp segments, frequently violet-coloured; seg- 

 ments ovate, moderately acuminate, a little serrate, of the 

 finest sky-blue ; the processes, shortly horned, arise from a 

 white line of the tube. It varies with a white flower, like 

 most of the others. The Siberian plant is taller and larger in 



