é 
Erythrea. | L. GENTIANACE.. 301 
a terminal, repeatedly-forked cyme or panicle. Calyx-segments 5, 
narrow-linear. Corolla with a slender tube, and a spreading, 5-cleft 
limb. 
In dry pastures, and sandy places, on banks, roadsides, &c.; widely 
spread over Hurope and central Asia, extending northward to south 
Sweden. Common in Britain, excepting in the north of Scotland, 
where it is almost confined to the coast.. Fl. all summer. It varies 
much in the size and breadth of the foliage and flowers, and has been 
subdivided into 2, 3, or even 6 or 7 supposed species, which, however, run 
into one another so much that no precise limits can be assigned them. 
The most prominent forms or varieties in Britain are :— 
a. Large-flowered C. Tall, not much branched, with a compact cyme 
and large flowers; the tube of the corolla long and the lobes ovate. 
b. Common C. (£. pulchella, Fries.). More branched, with numerous 
flowers ; the tube of the corolla not much longer than the calyx, and 
the lobes of the limb narrow. 
ce. Broad-leaved C. (FE. latifolia, Sm.). Including all the dwarf forms 
with rather large flowers and broad leaves. 
d. Linear C. (£. littoralis, Fries. ; £. linarifolia, Pers.). Much branched, 
usually small, with very narrow leaves and rather large flowers. The 
last two varieties are most frequent near the sea, where they both, as 
well as the small-flowered varieties, often dwindle down to a simple stem 
half an inch high, with a single flower. 
[e. Capitate C. (E. capitata, Willd.). Very dwarf, with the flowers in 
a dense head, and the stamens inserted at the base of the corolla-tube, 
a position so unusual in the Order as to suggest this being rather an 
abnormal state than a variety.—Downs, Isle of Wight, and Eastbourne. ] 
III. GENTIANA. GENTIAN. 
Herbs, with opposite, entire leaves, and (in the British species) blue 
flowers, either solitary and terminal or in pyramidal or oblong panicles, 
the lower ones often axillary. Calyx tubular, often strongly angled, 
with 5, rarely 4 lobes, seldom reaching below the middle. Corolla with 
a cylindrical or narrow-campanulate tube, and spreading limb, divided 
into 5 or rarely 4 lobes, and occasionally 5 additional ones in the angles. 
Style remaining attached to the capsule after the flower fades. Capsule 
1-celled, the placentas not meeting in the centre. 
_ A numerous genus, spread over the northern hemisphere, especially 
in mountainous districts, and, in the higher ranges of both the New and 
and Old World, penetrating into the tropics. One very common Swiss 
species, as well as several other exotic ones, have yellow flowers, but 
blue is the prevailing colour in the genus. 
Corolla fringed at the throat with long hairs. . 
Calyx-lobes 4, 2 of them broadly ovate . ‘ P . OK G. campestris. 
Calyx-lobes 5, all narrow-lanceolate or linear . ‘ ‘ . 4. G. Amarella. 
Cerolla not frin zed at the throat. 
Stem 6 inches to a foot high. Corolla tube above an inch 
all 
ong . ‘ ; : : : : . ; : ~ ls G. Preunonanthe. 
Stem dwarf, seldom above 5 or 4 inches. Corolla an inch 
long or less, with small lobes between the larger ones. 
Tufted perennial, with 1-flowered stems and a broad limb 
to the corolla . : 2. G. verna. 
‘Branched annual, with several flowers and a small limb 
to the corolla . : : : : : ‘ : . & &. nivalis. 
