GENTIAN FAMILY. Gentianaccae. 



GENTIAN FAMILY. Gentianoceae. 



A large family, widely distributed, most abundant in 

 temperate regions; smooth herbs, with colorless, bitter 

 juice; leaves toothless, usually opposite, without leaf- 

 stalks or stipules; flowers regular; calyx four to twelve- 

 toothed ; corolla with united lobes, twisted or overlapping 

 in the bud, of the same number as the calyx-teeth; stamens 

 inserted on the tube or throat of the corolla, as many as its 

 lobes, alternate with them; ovary superior, mostly one- 

 celled, with a single style or none, and one or two stigmas; 

 fruit a capsule, mostly with two valves, containing many 

 seeds. These plants were named for King Gentius of 

 Illyria, said to have discovered their medicinal value. 



There are several kinds of Frasera, North American, all 

 but one western; herbs, with thick, bitter, woody roots; 

 leaves opposite or in whorls; flowers numerous; corolla 

 wheel-shaped, with four divisions, each with one or two 

 fringed glands and sometimes also a fringed crown at base ; 

 stamens on the base of the corolla, with oblong, swinging 

 anthers, the filaments often united at base; ovary egg- 

 shaped, tapering to a slender style, with a small, more or 

 less two-lobed, stigma; capsule leathery, egg-shaped, with 

 flattish seeds. 



A handsome plant, though rather coarse, 



Columbo, Deer's from twQ to gix f t tall with j glossy 



Tongue 



Frlsera spedosa stem > ver y stout sometimes over two 

 Greenish- white inches across at the base, and very smooth, 

 Spring, summer, p a l e green leaves, in whorls of four and 

 autumn s ^ ^ j ower ones sometimes a foot long. 



The flowers are mixed with the leaves all 

 along the upper part of the stem, but mostly crowded at 

 the top in a pyramidal cluster about six inches long, and 

 are each nearly an inch and a half across, with a greenish 

 or bluish-white corolla, the lobes bordered with violet 

 and dotted with purple, and on each lobe two glands 

 covered by a fringed flap, resembling a small petal, these 

 fringes forming a sort of cross on the corolla. The four 

 stamens stand stiffly out between the corolla-lobes and the 

 general effect of the flower is so symmetrical that it suggests 

 an architectural or ecclesiastical ornament. Though the 

 flowers are not bright, this plant is decorative on account 



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