428 



THE GENTIAN FAMILY. 



and solitary flowers may be found in the sandy soil of pine-barrens, bloom- 

 ing from July until September. It is much branched, both the panicle and 

 branches being scantily supplied with linear, thread-like leaves. 



STIFF GENTIAN. GALL=FLOWER. AGUE=WEED. 



{^Plate C XL II I.) 



Gentictna qidnqiiefblia. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Gentian. Deep blue and Scentless. Florida and Missottri Septe7nber^ October, 



white. to Maine. 



Flowers: growing on short pedicels in axillary and terminal clusters. Calyx: 

 with five linear, pointed lobes. Corolla : tubular funnel-form; straight: spreading 

 at the top with five sharply pointed lobes. 6'Aj!W^«j'; five ; included. Pistil: one 

 with a two-lobed stigma. Leaves : opposite; ovate, blunt or pointed at the apex, 

 clasping and slightly cordate at the base ; entire ; vivid, dark green. Sle/n: four 

 inches to two feet high, branching; four-angled, very leafy. 



Not in the spring, or in the summer, do we see the gentians gleaming 

 vividly blue among the blood-roots and Hepaticas, the yellow lilies and 

 uncanny Indian pipes. They blow as a welcome to the autumn, lingering 

 then late, until asters have waved their last, and golden-rods have lost their 

 good looks. Late in August, perhaps a few of the species may come into 

 bloom, but as a general thing they wait until September and then last until 

 frost causes them to succumb. The stiff gentian, a quaintly pretty one 

 among them all, grows in either dry or moist soil and often ascends to a con- 

 siderable height on the mountains. All along the waysides going up Roan 

 Mountain and following the road to Blowing Rock, we saw its light blue 

 and smaller flowers in contrast with those of the vividly blue and larger 

 ones of the closed or blind gentian, Gentiana Andrewsii. 



Through these parts of the country the mountain people call it the gall- 

 flower because its juices are so bitter, and ague-weed on account of the 

 extract they make from its roots and employ for curing fever. 



G. crinita, fringed gentian, the unmistakable, the beautiful one, lauded 

 by Bryant, and with petals of matchless brilliant blue or, occasionally, white, 

 does not, however, come so late in the season that the " birds are flown." 

 Usually in September it first opens, and for the season, its deeply fringed 

 corolla-lobes have permanently closed before its more sturdy relative the 

 blind gentian has been withered by the frost. Always it is a radiantly 

 beautiful blossom. The plant's lanceolate leaves are too stiff perhaps, but 

 strange indeed it would look with any others. So bitter and tonic an 

 element is contained in the roots that the people use it as a substitute for 

 quinine. 



G. Ellidttii, Elliott's gentian, bears from one to four rather large flowers at 



