302 | ‘THE GENTIAN FAMILY. —— [Erythrea. — 
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, will often dwindle down to a simple 
stem half an inch high, with a single flower. 
[e. Capitate H. (H.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. | 
Ill. 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 witha 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 at- 
tached 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 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 pre- 
vailing colour in the genus. 
Corolla fringed at the throat with long hairs. 
Calyx-lobes 4, two of them broadly ovate F ° » 5. G. campestris. 
Calyx-lobes 5, all narrow-lanceolate or linear - ° ~ 4. G. Amarella. 
Corolla not fringed at the throat. 
Stem 6 inches to a foot high. Corolla-tube above an inch 
ong 4. A : ; : ; : , ; : . lL. G.Pneumonanthe, 
Stem dwarf, seldom above 3 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. f A . - . & G. nivalis. 
The Gentianella of our ate is the Gentiana acaulis, a mountain 
species, very common in central Europe, but not a native of Britain. 
1, G. Pneumonanthe, Linn. (fig. 675). Marsh Gentian. Sicha 
perennial. Stems simple, erect, 6 inches to a foot or more high. Lower 
leaves oblong-lanceolate, the upper ones nearly linear, all obtuse and rather 
thick. Flowers nearly sessile, in opposite pairs in the axils of the upper 
leaves, with a terminal one close between the last pair. Lobes of the calyx 
narrow. Corolla an inch and a half or more long, of a deep blue within, 
with 5 greenish, broad lines outside; the tube without hairs at the throat ; 
the lobes rather short, broad and spreading. 
In moist heaths and pastures, chiefly in hilly districts, throughout Europe 
and Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Local in Britain, more fre- 
quent in northern than in central or southern England, but not a native of 
Scotland cr Ireland. 1. summer. 
2, G. verna, Linn. (fig. 676). Spring Gentian.—Stock perennial and 
leafy, densely tufted, often spreading to 4 or 6 inches in diameter, with 
ovate or oblong leaves. Flower-stems simple and numerous, sometimes so 
‘Soe 2 { 
