J xcvii. GENTiANACEJ!. (C. B. Clarke.) 121 



W. Deccan Peniksula ; in the Gha,ts, from Bombay southwards ; common in the 

 Nilgherries. 



Stem 2-9 in., usually undivided at the base, without radical leaves. Cauline 

 leaves J by ^ in., sessile. Sepals J by | in. elliptic. Corolla -white or clear blue, 

 nearly 5-partite ; segments oblong, base naked or minutely glandular, scarcely pitted. 

 Anthers small, ovate, much shorter than the filament. Ova/ry sessile, oblong ; stigma, 

 sessile, shortly bilobed. Capsule \ in., oblong. Seeds minute, subglobose. — Genus 

 doubtful ; in the symmetrical erect habit, 4-merous flowers, corolla without green 

 s'erves, it approaches Swertia Sect. Ophelia (see Sweriia Beddomei). 



12. SWSRTXA,, Linn. 



Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite except in H. alternifoUa. Flowers- 

 blue, lurid, or whiteish, sometimes with yellow glands ; cymes m thyrsoiS or 

 corymbose panicles. Segals 4l-5, lanceolate, rarely ovate. Corolla rotate ; lobes 

 4-6, twisted to the right ; on each lobe (or on the short corolla-tube below its 

 base) are 1 or 2 pits depressions or glands, naked or partly covered by a basal 

 scale ; margins of pits fimbriate all round, or at its apex only ; scale naked or 

 tips- fimbriate. Stamens 4-5, attached near the base of the corolla, free, rarely 

 monadelphous, filaments linear complanate, often more or less dilated down- 

 wards ; anthers oblong ovate or hastate, versatile. Ovary 1-celled, placentae 

 little intruded; style or short rarely linear-cylindric, stigmas 2. Capmle 

 sessile, ovate or oblong, separating into its 2 carpels. Seeds various, many,, 

 rarely few, small or minute, testa close or very lax or winged reticulate.— 

 Species 60 ; in Europe, Asia, and Africa, principally in the mountains. 



In the species with one pit at the very base of each corolla-lobe, this pit seems 

 homologous with the spur of Halenia. There is a passage from the species 

 with a depressed broad viscous spot, fimbriate on the margins only to those which, 

 have 2 small lateral linear vertical glands ; among these S. ccerulea, with very small 

 depressions, should perhaps be removed to Pleurogyne. In S. bimaculata, where there- 

 are 2 green viscous spots, scarcely depressed, in the middle of the corolla -lobes, the 

 morphology is obscure. 



SiTBGEii-tTS I, Opbelia. Stems annual or once-flowering, erect, panicled,, 

 solid, -virgate. Radioed leaves at the time of flowering. 



* Flowers all (or most of them) 5-merous. 



t Segals almost free. 



1. S> purpurascens, Wall. Cat. 4379; leaves oblong or lanceolate 3-1- 

 nerved, filaments dilated downwards united into a short tube free from the 

 corolla, style long stigmas sublinear. Ophelia purpurascens, D. Don in Trans. 

 Linn. Soc. xvii. 526 ; Griseb. Gentian. 315, and in DC. Frodr. ix. 124 ; Wight 

 III. t. 157, bis 3, fig. d. O. Dalhousiana, Griseb. Gentian. 313, and in DC.^ 

 Frodr. ix. 123. 0. ciliata, G. Dm Gen. Syst. iv. 178. 



Temperate N.W. Himalata, alt. 5-12,000 ft.; from Kashmir to Kumaon; 

 abundant near Dalhousie and Dhurmsala. 



Stems 8-36 in., terete or 4-lineolate. Leaves IJ by J in,, base narrowed, lowest 

 subobtuse, uppermost acute, glabrous. Panicles divaricate, many-flowered, leafy ; 

 pedicels often clustered. Sepals J in., oblong, 1-nerved. Corolla-lobes f in., ovate, 

 acute, purple or dark red, reflexed in flower ; pits solitary near the base of each lobe, 

 horse-shoe shaped, naked. Stamens-tube erect, and fllaments puberulous ; anthers- 

 elliptic-lanceolate, much acuminate. Seeds J,- in. diam., globose, smooth, light-yellow 

 when ripe. — Grisebach's type specimens of S. purpurascens and Dalhousiana are 

 identical. This species is recognised at once by the red-purple much-reflexed corolla- 

 lobes. There is a strong purple band near the base of the coroUa-lobe which is- 



