660 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS I BOTANY. 



Family 90. GENTIANACE^. Gentian Family. 



Glabrous herbs, with opposite, rarely alternate, or whorled, entire, 

 exstipnlatc leaves, and variously cymose, 4-5-merous, sympetalous flowers; 

 stamens as many as, and alternate with the corolline divisions, epipetalous. 

 Ovary superior, i- (or partly 2-) celled, with 2 placenta, and many endo- 

 spermous seeds. 



Species 600, chiefly of temperate regions. 



KEY TO THE GENERA. 



1. Flowers not large, cymose or spicate. Calyx-lobes narrow, long. Corolla salverform. Anthers 



twisting when old. Style filiform. I. Erytlircea p. 660. 



2. Flowers rather large. Calyx-lobes not divided half-way. Corolla funnel- to bell-form. 



Anthers straight. Style short, persisting. 2. Gentiana p. 660. 



i. ERYTHR^EA Neck. Centaury. 



Flowers small or mid-sized, numerous in cymes or spikes. Calyx-lobes 

 narrow, long. Corolla salverform, pink to yellowish. Anthers twisting 

 when old. Style filiform, deciduous. 



Species 25; in Eurasia, and W. of America. 



E. CHILENSIS Pers. 



Stem slender, ascending or erect. Leaves various ; the lower oblong, 

 more or less long, acute ; the upper linear, narrowed both ways, obtusish. 

 Panicle frequently dichotomous, lax. Flowers long pediceled, remote 

 from the leaves. Corolla 5-4-cleft, its tube as long as the calyx ; its lobes 

 elliptic, oblong, obtuse. Capsule i -celled. 



(Common in Chili, in grassy places ; and near Buenos Aires) ; probably 

 in N. Patagon. 



2. GENTIANA Linn. Gentian. 



Erect, with calyx 5-, rarely 4-cleft, not divided down to the middle ; 

 corolla tubular to funnelform, occasionally with extra lobes in the angles. 

 Anthers remaining straight. Style usually short and persisting. Flowers 

 mostly blue or purple to white ; rarely yellow. 



Species 300, cosmopolitan, abounding in mountains of the N. Tem- 

 perate zone and on the Andes ; also in the Arctic regions, in South Aus- 

 tralia, Tasmania, and New Zealand and Patagonia. 



