GENTIANA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



GENTIANA. 



589 



are good masses of moist loam in which 

 it can root. It is also good for forming 

 carpets in the rock-garden or on raised 

 borders. With us the flowers open in 

 spring and in early summer, but on its 

 native hills they open according to posi- 

 tion, like the Vernal Gentian. G. alpina 

 is a marked variety with small broad 

 leaves, and there are several other varie- 

 ties. Their colours vary from the deepest 

 blue to white, and in one white flower the 

 tips of the corolla are a rich blue. In all 

 the forms except the white the throat of 

 the corolla is spotted with blue on a 

 greenish ground, and all have greenish 

 marks on the outside. Alps and Pyrenees. 

 G. asclepiadea (Willow Gentian}. 

 A good herbaceous kind ; this gives no 

 trouble, but dies down out of harm's way 

 in winter. Well grown, it will spring up 

 to 2 ft. and freely produce good-sized 

 flowers of a purple-blue along nearly 

 the whole stem in late summer and 

 autumn. This Gentian will grow in open 

 woods. It may therefore be naturalised, 

 and its effect among the Grass in a wood 

 is charming. There is a white form. 

 Division. Europe. 



G. bavarica (Bavarian Gentian). In 

 size this resembles the Vernal Gentian, 

 but it has smaller Box-like leaves of 

 yellowish-green, and its tiny stems are 

 thickly clothed with dense little tufts of 

 foliage, from which arise flowers of lovely 

 iridescent blue. While G. verna is found 

 on dry ground, or on ground not over- 

 flowed by water, G. bavarica is in per- 

 fection in boggy spots, by some little rill. 

 We must imitate these conditions if we 

 desire to succeed, and a moist peat or 

 bog bed, and with no coarse plants near, 

 will enable us to grow this lovely plant. 

 Alps. 



G. septemfida (Crested Gentian).^ 

 lovely plant, bearing on stems 6 to 12 

 in. high clusters of cylindrical flowers 

 widening towards the mouth, and a 

 beautiful blue-white inside, and greenish- 

 brown outside, having between each of 

 the larger segments one smaller and 

 finely cut. In the variety cordifolia leaves 

 are more cordate, but it grows about only 

 half the height of the type, with a much 

 neater habit, and there is a dwarf form. 

 Best in moist sandy peat. Division. 

 Caucasus. 



G. verna ( Vernal Gentian]. One of the 

 most beautiful of alpine flowers, thriving in 

 deep sandy loam, with abundance of water 

 during the warm and dry months, and 

 perfect exposure to the sun. The absence 

 of these conditions is a frequent cause of 

 failure. It thrives wild in cool pastures 



and uplands, where it is rarely subjected 

 to such drought as it is in a parched 

 border. Grit or broken limestone may be 

 mingled with the soil ; if there be plenty of 

 sand this is not essential ; a few pieces 

 half buried in the ground will tend to 

 prevent evaporation and guard the plant 

 till it has taken root. It is so dwarf, 

 that if weeds be allowed to grow round 

 it they soon injure it, and tall plants over- 

 shadow or overrun it. In moist districts 



Gentiana verna. 



it may be grown in a deep sandy loam, on 

 the front edge of a border carefully sur- 

 rounded by half-plunged stones. Well- 

 rooted plants should be secured to begin 

 with, as failure often occurs from imper- 

 fectly-rooted, half-dead plants. It is 

 abundant in mountain pastures on the 

 Alps, in Asia, and also in Britain. 



Mr. Correvon, of Geneva, who knows 

 these plants well, classifies them as follows 

 for cultivation : 



Acaulis Group : Alpina, angustifolia, 

 Clusii, and Kochiana, which thrive best in 

 calcareous soils, except the last,^which requires 

 a soil free of it. In our country they thrive in 

 a way on moist soils, but flower best in the 

 limestone soils of Ireland. They will not 

 flower well in shade. 



Tall kinds, with large roots, G. Burseri, 

 Itttea, pannonica, punctata, purpurea. [These 

 are only worth growing in Botanic gardens.] 



Dwarf tufted kinds requiring care on the bog 

 or rock-garden, those marked * thriving in 

 moist open soil in turf or sphagnum in full sun : 

 the others dryer spots and pebbly soil ; cal- 

 careous soil to be preferred for verna and its 

 forms. G. angulosa, *bavarica^ brachyphylla, 

 Favrati, imbricata, pyrenaica, * Rostani^ *sep- 

 temfida, verna. 



Kinds for marshy ground : G. Andrewst, 



