GENTIANACEAE 



GENTIAN FAMILY 



ROSE PINK 



Sabatia annularis (L.) Pursh 



The Gentian family furnishes some of our most beauti- 

 ful wild and cultivated flowers. Most species have blue, 

 late-blooming flowers whose beauty has in many cases 

 caused their destruction. 

 They have been victims of 

 relentless flower hunters 

 so that now scarcely any 

 grow where formerly grew 

 hundreds. 



This handsome species oc- 

 curs locally from New York to 

 western Ontario and south to 

 Florida, Louisiana and Okla- 

 homa, preferring the rich soil 

 of thickets and meadows. It 

 grows from seed each year 

 and may therefore not be 

 found in the same place year 

 after year. 



The sharply 4-angled stem 

 is usually rather stout, much 

 branched and 2-3 feet high. 

 Leaves, all similar to those 

 shown, and branches are op- 

 posite. The whole plant is 

 smooth, as is the rule in the 

 Gentian family with but few 

 exceptions. 



The fragrant rosy flowers 

 are produced in July and August. The calyx is a short green bell 

 topped by 5 narrow lobes. The deeply 5-parted corolla is rose- 

 pink with a greenish star-shaped center. The 5 stamens are 

 attached to the short corolla tube and have short filaments and 

 long, curved or twisted anthers. There is i pistil with a simple 

 ovary and a style 2-cleft about to the middle. Stigmatic sur- 

 faces are along the inner side of each branch. The capsule fruit 

 contains a great manv small seeds. 



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