GENTIAN FAMILY, Gentianaceae. 
GENTIAN FAMILY. Gentianaceae. 
A large family, widely distributed, most abundant in 
temperate regions; smooth herbs, with colorless, bitter 
juice; leaves toothless, usually opposite, without leaf- 
stalks or stipules; flowers regular; calyx four to twelve- 
toothed; corolla with united lobes, twisted or overlapping 
in the bud, of the same number as the calyx-teeth; stamens 
inserted on the tube or throat of the corolla, as many as its 
lobes, alternate with them; ovary superior, mostly one- 
celled, with a single style or none, and one or two stigmas; 
fruit a capsule, mostly with two valves, containing many 
seeds. These plants were named for King Gentius of 
Illyria, said to have discovered their medicinal value. 
There are several kinds of Frasera, North American, all 
but one western; herbs, with thick, bitter, woody roots; 
leaves opposite or in whorls; flowers numerous; corolla 
wheel-shaped, with four divisions, each with one or two 
fringed glands and sometimes also a fringed crown at base; 
stamens on the base of the corolla, with oblong, swinging 
anthers, the filaments often united at base; ovary egg- 
shaped, tapering to a slender style, with a small, more or 
less two-lobed, stigma; capsule leathery, egg-shaped, with 
flattish seeds. 
A handsome plant, though rather coarse, 
Tecate from two to six feet tall, with a pale glossy 
Pacers Spetiose stem, very stout, sometimes over two 
Greenish-white inches across at the base, and very smooth, 
Spring, summer, pale green leaves, in whorls of four and 
2 age six, the lower ones sometimes a foot long. 
Stns The flowers are mixed with the leaves all 
along the upper part of the stem, but mostly crowded at 
the top in a pyramidal cluster about six inches long, and 
are each nearly an inch and a half across, with a greenish 
or bluish-white corolla, the lobes bordered with violet 
and dotted with purple, and on each lobe two glands 
covered by a fringed flap, resembling a small petal, these 
fringes forming a sort of cross on the corolla. The four 
stamens stand stiffly out between the corolla-lobes and the 
general effect of the flower is so symmetrical that it suggests 
an architectural or ecclesiastical ornament. Though the 
flowers are not bright, this plant is decorative on account 
368 
Columbo, Deer’s 


eet en” ad 
