STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
GENTIANS. 
** And the blue Gentian flower that in the breeze 
Nods lonely ; of her beauteous race the last.” 
—Bryant. 
This interesting floral family takes its name from Gentius, 
a king of Illyria, who is said to have been the first to dis- 
cover and be benefited by its sanative properties. The root 
used in medicine is, I believe, a native of Spain. The Alpine 
Gentian—so often spoken of by tourists—is of low stature, 
with very large intensely-blue upright bells; “a thing of 
beauty and a joy for ever,’ even to behold it growing in 
serene loveliness on the edge of the icy glaciers and rude 
moraines of the Swiss Alps. 
Of all our native flowers the Gentians are among the most 
beautiful, from the delicately fringed azure-blue (Bryant’s 
flower) to the fair pale softly-tinted Five-flowered Gentian, 
with its narrow bells and light-green leaves. All are lovely 
in color and form, but none more deserving of our attention 
than the large-belled Soapwort Gentian, known also by. the 
poetical name of 
CALATHIAN VIOLET—Gentiana Saponaria (L.). 
This is the latest of all our wild flowers, coming early in 
the fall of the year and lingering with us 
‘* Till fairer flowers are all decayed, 
And thou appearest ; 
Like joys that linger as they fade, 
Whose last are dearest.” 
On sandy knolls, among fading grasses and withered 
herbage of our oak plains, we see the royal deep blue open 
bells of this lovely flower, its rich color reminding one of a 
queen’s coronation robes. 
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