132 



GENTIANA. 



family, with great vase-like flowers 

 opening on a carpet of shining 

 leathery leaves; 1 to 3 in. high. 

 Flowers, in summer; fine blue, with 

 dotted throat, often 2 in. long, soli- 

 tary, bell-shaped, 5 to 10-cleft ; seg- 

 ments obtuse, mucronate. Leaves, 

 of root in rosettes, ovate-lance-shaped. 

 Stem short, quadrangular, with one or 

 two pairs of leaves. Genliana alpina 

 is a variety with shorter but broader 

 leaves, and there are several other 



varieties. Alps and Pyrenees. 



The rock-garden, borders, edgings ; 

 preferring a moist deep loam. It is 

 also well suited for naturalization in 

 moist and somewhat bare upland 

 pastures. Division or seed. All the 

 Gentians may be grown from seed, 

 but are raised very slowly and with 

 difficulty in this way. The seed 

 should always be sown soon after 

 being gathered. 



Gentiana Andrews!! (Andrews' 's G.} 

 An erect and peculiar kind, with 

 handsome deep blue clusters ; about 1 ft. 

 high. Flowers, in autumn ; dark blue, 

 about I in. long, closed at the top, in 

 clusters near the head of the stem. 

 Leaves, ovate-lanceolate, acute, nar- 

 rowed at the base, rough at the edges. 

 North America, from Carolina to Lake 



Huron. Borders, and with the 



choicer medium-sized perennials, such 

 as the finer Aquilegias, in the rougher 

 parts of the rock-garden, in ordinary 

 sandy garden soil. Division. 



Gentiana asclepiadea (Asclepias-liJce 

 G.} A handsome herbaceous kind, 

 with simple, willow-like, erect stems 

 swollen at the joints, from 15 in. to 

 2 ft. high., and bearing numerous 

 flowers for a considerable portion of 

 their length. Flowers, in summer ; 

 rather large, purplish-blue, with dark 

 dots inside, arranged in numerous 

 pairs, axillary, nearly sessile ; corolla 

 bell-shaped, 5-cleft, Leaves, ovate- 

 lanceolate, 5-nerved, about 2 in. long 



and | in. broad at the base, sessile. 



European Mountains. Borders, or 



fringes of shrubberies, in almost any 

 soil, but best in a very fine deep and 

 moist sandy loam. Division. 



Gentiana bavarica (Bavarian G.) 

 An exquisite kind, resembling the 

 Vernal Gentian in size and flowers, but 

 with blunter and smaller box-like 

 leaves of a yellowish-green tone ; 3 in. 

 high. Flowers, in summer ; beautiful 

 blue, large, and freely produced, on 

 simple 1 -flowered stems ; corolla 5- 

 cleft, tube long, cylindrical ; throat 

 naked ; segments ovate, not fringed. 

 Leaves, small, obovate, very blunt, 

 attenuated ; lower ones crowded. 

 High Alps of Europe. The rock- 

 garden, in very moist, deep loam, in 

 very wet ground, near the margin of a 

 rivulet, or in pots of loam, plunged 

 nearly to their rims in a tank of water. 

 Careful division. 



Gentiana lutea (Yellow G.} A 

 robust perennial, with somewhat the 

 habit of a Vcratrum ; 3 to 4 ft. high or 

 more. Flowers, in summer ; yellow, in 

 whorls at the upper joints ; corolla 

 rotate, veined and spotted, 5 or 6- 

 parted ; segments lance-shaped, acu- 

 minate. Leaves, large ; root-leaves 

 ovate-oblong, with 5 large veins on the 

 back ; stem leaves sessile, ovate, acute, 

 a pair at each joint. Alps of Mid- 

 dle Europe. Scarcely ornamental 



enough for the border, it will grow 

 as well in rough grassy places with us 

 as it does on the high meadows of the 

 Alps. It grows finest in a deep loam 

 and should have a place in all botani- 

 cal collections. Division of established 

 tufts. 



Gentiana Pneumonanthe (Marsh G.) 

 A lovely dwarf kind, as beautiful in 

 the lowland marsh as the Vernal and 

 Bavarian species are on the uplands 

 and Alps ; 6 to 12 in. high. Flowers, 

 in summer; tubular, 14 in. long or 

 more; deep-blue within, with greenish 



