THE GENTIAN 381 



with many blossoms, faintly, very faintly, reminding 

 us of some of the species of campanula, though a 

 certain rigidity in the outline, the twisted and some- 

 what spiral markings of its many foldings, and the 

 beautiful green tinting displayed on the exterior of 

 its throat, serve to distinguish it, even at a distance. 

 Unlike the two last-named species, the marsh-gen- 

 tian is found in many accessible localities, abound- 

 ing in certain districts in moist meadow land ; as, 

 for instance, in Norfolk, Lancashire, Cheshire, &c. 



Our other gentians, of which one is given in the 

 accompanying engraving, are purple; and, though 

 beautiful little plants, have not that brilliancy of 

 hue which gives so glorious an effect to those before 

 mentioned. They are the little field-gentian (G. 

 campestris), which occurs sparingly on mountainous 

 pastures in Western Britain, and which is, at first 

 sight, with difficulty distinguished from the autum- 

 nal gentian (0. amarella), though a difference, well- 

 defined and constant, is presented in the form of the 

 calyx, which, in the Q. amarella, has its segments 

 equal, while the G. campestris has the two outer 

 segments, which are flat and upright, twice as broad 

 as those between them. The G. amarella loves cal- 

 careous soils ; and both these plants frequently ex- 

 hibit flowers which are more or less double ; a sort 

 of deformity produced where the plants have been 

 grazed down by sheep, or other animals. 



