GENTIAN FAMILY. Qentianaceas. 



GENTIAN FAMILY. Gentianacew. 



Smooth herbs with generally opposite leaves, toothless 

 and stemless; Menyanthes and Limnanthemum are two 

 exceptions to this rule. Flowers regular and perfect, 

 the corolla with 4-12 lobes; alternating with these are a 

 corresponding number of stamens. Fertilized mostly by 

 the bees and the beelike flies. 



An erect and smooth annual naturalized 



from Europe, with several short branches 

 Centaury 

 Centaurium above, and elliptical or oblong light green 



umbeiiatum leaves, somewhat acute ; the uppermost 

 Light magenta rather linear. The small tubular light 



magenta flowers five-lobed and verv nearly 

 September 



stemless. iney are numerously borne at 



the summits of the branches. 6-12 inches high. Waste 

 places and the shores of the Great Lakes, from Quebec 

 to Illinois. The name Erythrcea was formerly given 

 to this genus. The flowers are \veak in color, and the 

 plants are really more delicate than beautiful. 



A small species from Europe similar in 



Centaurium , , ,, . , 



puichellum many respects to the foregoing, but the 

 Magenta=pink stem very much branched, the leaves oval 

 June- or long-ovate, the larger lower ones blunt, 



September the upper sma u an d acute. The flowers 

 are magenta-pink, and, with few exceptions, distinctly 

 stemmed. The tube of the corolla is nearly twice as 

 long as the five lobes of the calyx. 3-8 inches high. 

 Waste places or fields, wet or shady, from southern 

 N. Y. to east Pa. and Md. 



An erect and smooth annual naturalized 

 Spiked from the old countr y w ith small, blunt, 



Centaury 

 Centaurium oblong, light green leaves ; the upper ones 



spicatum rather acute, and all more or less close to 



Magenta-pink the generally forking stem. The very 



small magenta-pink, or crimson-magenta 

 September 



flowers tubular and five-lobed, stemless 



and also close to the plant-stem, the tube of the corolla 

 a little longer than the calyx-lobes. 6-16 inches high. 

 Shores of Nantucket, Mass. , and Portsmouth, Va. 



