Autumn 



Far less delicate and uncommon, but 

 still attractive, is the closed gentian. 

 This is usually a stout, rather tall plant, 

 with crowded clusters of deep blue or 

 purple flowers, which never open, look- 

 ing always like buds. It grows along the 

 shaded roadsides, and is easily confused 

 with other members of the group, as both 

 the five-flowered and soapwort gentians 

 have narrow corollas, which often appear 

 almost closed. 



Certain New England woods and road- 

 sides are now tinged with the pale blue or 

 at times pinkish blossoms of the five-flow- 

 ered species, while in the Adirondacks in 

 early September, parts of the shore of the 

 Raquette River were actually ' ' blued ' ' 

 with what I take to have been the lance- 

 leaved gentian, Gentiana line arts of the 

 botany, formerly considered a variety of 

 the soapwort species. This conjecture as 

 to their identity was never verified, as 

 the specimens gathered for analysis were 

 136 



