GENTIAN FAMILY. 



GENTIANACE^. 

 Fringed Gentian. Gentiana crinita. 



Found in fields, pastures, and along wayside thickets, frequently 

 where it is damp ; coming into bloom late in August and continuing 

 until middle October or later. 



The stalk, which branches for the flowers, grows usually from 6 

 inches to 2 feet in height, and is somewhat square near the blossoms, 

 and sometimes twisted ; it is grooved, smooth and shining, and light 

 green, tempered with bronze. 



The leaf is Tieart-shaped at the base, tapering sharply to a long- 

 pointed tip, slightly creased on the midrib, with an entire margin, and 

 thin smooth texture. In color it is light green. The leaves clasp the 

 stalk in pairs, which occur at right angles to each other. 



The corolla is a deep vase shape spreading at the top into 4 fringed 

 lobes which curve like shells; of a delicate thin texture, and satin 

 smooth sui'face, in color an evasive azure, impossible to describe, varying 

 from pale to deep (sometimes reddish tinted), and marked upon the 

 outside with fine lines of darker blue. The 4-parted calyx is pinched 

 into 4 angles at its base, and is a light yellow-green color, its long, 

 sharp tips sometimes bronzy. The flowers are set on short, and long, 

 leafy stems ; in groups, or singly. 



Though often low, and bearing but one flowei', it is not uncommon 

 to find a single tall stalk adorned with a dozen or two of blossoms, and 

 a reliable observer reports having found plants 5 feet in stature, and 

 bearing upwards of a hundred flowers and buds apiece ! This remark- 

 able luxuriance could only have occurred in some solitary mountain glen 

 unknown to the gentian-hunter, who, between greedy admii'ation of its 

 beauty and ignorance of its habits, is doing his best to exterminate the 

 plant. The seeds are exceedingly capricious in their choice of a home, 

 and refuse to germinate when garden-sown. For the aesthetic pleasure 

 also it is best not to pluck them ; their charm loses its subtlety when 

 carried into civilized environments — the spirit of their loveliness escapes 

 imprisonment. 



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