THE GENTIAN TRIBE. l65 



acaulis, Plate XIII. 1.), a plant that you can- 

 not fail to procure from the first good garden you 

 enter. It indicates the presence of the bitter sto- 

 machic qualities for which the Gentian of the shops 

 is so much employed, and you may be quite sure 

 that they exist in any wild species in which a similar 

 structure is discoverable. Thus we have in our 

 marshes what is called the Calathian Violet (Gentiana 

 Pneumonanthe), with narrow leaves, and a corolla 

 greenish externally, but a lovely azure within ; and 

 on our hills, or sea-cliffs, a branchy dwarf plant with 

 rose-coloured blossoms (Erythrsea Centaurium), called 

 Centaury ; in both these the same bitterness occurs, 

 and they both may be used just as well for domestic 

 bitters as the exotic drug of the shops. 



The Gentian tribe is not a very extensive one ; the 

 principal part of it is met with in the tropical coun- 

 tries of South America ; a few species, called Chironias, 

 from the Cape of Good Hope, exist in green-houses ; 

 another group, of almost uncultivable habits but 

 great beauty, called Sabbatias, is found in North 

 America ; and the remainder, which are chiefly 

 Gentians, are found all over the milder and more 

 alpine parts of Europe and Asia ; in the Swiss Alps, 

 on Caucasus, and on the Himalayan mountains of 

 India, they enamel the sward with blossoms of such 

 intense brilliancy, that the eye can scarcely rest 

 upon them. 



From some unexplained cause the plants of this 

 tribe are generally so difficult to manage in England, 

 that with the exception of three or four robust species. 



