GENTIANACE/E. 561 



tlie 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-jloicered E. Tall, not much branched, with a compact 

 cyme and large flowers ; the tube of the corolla long and the lobes ovate. 



b. Common E. (E. pulchella, Brit. Fl.) More branched, with nu- 

 merous flowers ; the tube of the corolla not much longer than the calyx, 

 and the lobes of the limb narrow. 



c. Broad-leaved E. ( Chironia pulchella, Eng. Bot. t. 458, and E. la- 

 tifolia, Eng. Bot. Suppl. t. 2719.) Including all the dwarf forms with 

 rather large flowers and broad leaves. 



d. Linear E. (Chironia littoralis, Eng. Bot. t. 2305. E. linarii- 

 folia, Brit. Fl.) 



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, will often 

 dwindle down to a simple stem half an inch high, with a single flower. 



III. GENTIAN. GEJSTTIANA. 



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 

 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, two of them broadly ovate 5. Field G. 



Calyx-lobes 5, all narrow-lanceolate or linear 4. Autumn G. 



Corolla not fringed at the throat. 



Stem 6 inches to a foot high. Corolla-tube above an inch 



long 1. Marsh G. 



Stem dwarf, seldom above 3 or 4 inches. Corolla an inch 



long or less, with small lobes between the larger ones. 

 VOL. TT. F 



