STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 

 GENTIANS. 



" And the blue Gentian flower that in the breeze 

 Nods lonely ; of her beauteous race the last." 



Bryant. 



This interesting floral family takes its name from Gentius, 

 a king of Illyria, who is said to have been the first to dis- 

 cover and be benefited by its sanative properties. The root 

 used in medicine is, I believe, a native of Spain. The Alpine 

 Gentian so often spoken of by tourists is of low stature, 

 with very large intensely -blue upright bells ; " a thing of 

 beauty and a joy for ever," even to behold it growing in 

 serene loveliness on the edge of the icy glaciers and rude 

 moraines of the Swiss Alps. 



Of all our native flowers the Gentians are among the most 

 beautiful, from the delicately fringed azure-blue (Bryant's 

 flower) to the fair pale softly-tinted Five-flowered Gentian, 

 with its narrow bells and light-green leaves. All are lovely 

 in color and form, but none more deserving of our attention 

 than the large-belled Soapwort Gentian, known also by the 

 poetical name of 



CALATHIAN VIOLET Gentiana Saponaria (L.). 



This is the latest of all our wild flowers, coming early in 

 the fall of the year and lingering with us 



*' Till fairer flowers are all decayed, 



And thou appearest ; 

 Like joys that linger as they fade, 

 Whose last are dearest." 



On sandy knolls, among fading grasses and withered 

 herbage of our oak plains, we see the royal deep blue open 

 bells of this lovely flower, its rich color reminding one of a 

 queen's coronation robes. 



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