GENTIANACEAE 



GENTIAN FAMILY 



CLOSED GENTIAN 



Gentiana Andrc^vsii Griseb. 



The Closed Genetian is probably our commonest species, 

 especially in the northern part of the state. It frequents moist 

 grounds from Quebec to Manitoba, south to Georgia and Ne- 

 braska. It is per- 

 ennial and if un- 

 disturbed will per- 

 sist in the same 

 place for many 

 years, but unfortu- 

 nately in most places 

 very few seeds ma- 

 ture because of the 

 depredations of in- 

 sects with which the 

 plants are infested. 

 Therefore if the 

 plants are pulled up 

 in any place, they 

 will likely be ex- 

 tinct there for all 

 time. 



The flowers are 

 produced from Aug- 

 ust to October in a terminal cluster and commonly in i or 2 of the 

 upper axils. The calyx is tubular and 5-cleft. The tubular corolla 

 is nearly or entirely closed, blue with white plaits or sometimes 

 all white. The 5 stamens are included within the corolla and the 

 anthers are grown together in a tube. The pistil consists of a 

 I -celled ovary and a short style. The fruit is a capsule. 



The Prairie Gentian, Gentiana puberula Michx., is our only 

 hairy-stemmed species. The rigid stem stands 5-20 inches high 

 and bears many small, ovate-lanceolate and sessile leaves whose 

 margins are roughened with short stiff hairs. The intensely blue 

 flowers are large and borne in a terminal cluster. Their parts, like 

 the rest of the plant, are rigid. The spreading ovate lobes ot the 

 corolla are 2 or 3 times the length of the cut-toothed appendages 

 in the sinuses. This species lives on dry prairies from Maryland 

 to Georgia, west to Minnesota and Kansas, and blooms in October. 

 It is to be looked for here on original prairies in the northern half 

 of the state. 



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