Gentiana Andrewsii forma albiflora Britton in Allegheny 

 National Forest, Pennsylvania 



Sidney K. Eastwood 



Tionesta Creek which lirs largely in Forest County enters 

 the Allegheny River at the southwest corner of the Allegheny 

 National Forest. The river forms the western boundary of the 

 area. The creek flows, in general, parallel to the river and dis- 

 tant some eight to ten miles until it reaches the village of Neb- 

 raska where it turns west to flow into the river. Between the 

 two valleys is territory reaching elevations around eight hun- 

 dred feet above the streams. The entire area was at one time 

 covered with forest, largely coniferous, and is now growing up 

 to second-growth hardwoods except for small areas on the hill- 

 tops and along the streams that are under cultivation or oc- 

 cupied by villages. 



On September 6, 1931, Adam M. Barker and the writer 

 found a single specimen of Gentiana Andrewsii forma albiflora 

 Britton growing along the bank of Tionesta creek at Nebraska 

 near a stand of the typical blue form. The specimen was col- 

 lected as an oddity, one of those white forms of blue flowers 

 that occasionally occur. On September 1, 2 and 3, 1934 we made 

 another collecting trip to the Allegheny National Forest and vis- 

 ited many locations in the region. Along Blue Jay Run, a trib- 

 utary to Tionesta Creek, at a point two miles from its mouth 

 where Watsontown Run comes in, we again collected f. albiflora 

 growing close to the water's edge in territory where the second 

 growth forest is well established. 



On the following day we found a stand of it at the side of 

 the road upstream from Brookston where the Tionesta Creek 

 valley widens and provides a flat area devoted to farming and 

 pasture around the village. 



From Barnes, downstream to Nebraska the valley is fairly 

 narrow. Through this section a highway runs along the narrow 

 area between the creek and the forested hillside. For a distance 

 of several miles either side of Lynch, which is located at the 

 junction of Blue Jay Run with Tionesta Creek, we saw f. albi- 

 flora growing abundantly in scattered stations along the road. 



Exploration of the territory around a number of the stations 



37 



