GENTIAN FAMILY 



879 



eampanulate or I'unnelform, the lobes 4 or 5 arid often with teeth or 

 plaited folds in their sinuses. Style short and persistent, or none; 

 stigmas 2. Capsule oblong, containing very numerous small seeds 

 with a loose cellular or winged coat. (Named for Gentius, king of 

 Illyria, who discovered the tonic properties of these herbs.) 



I. G. Oregana Engelm. Perennial, erect, to 2 ft. high; 

 leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, 1 to 1£ in. long; flowers few to several 

 at summit of stem; bracts oblong or ovate; calyx-lobes oblong- to 

 ovate-lanceolate, as long as tube; corolla broadly funnelform, almost 

 always 5-merous, 1} to If in. long, the lobes ovate, not narrowed at 

 base; plaits in the sinuses prolonged into conspicuous subulate appen- 

 dages; capsule more or less stipitate; seed surrounded by a distinct 

 wing. 



North Coast ranges, rare within our limits: Mt. Tamalpais; Point 

 Reyes; Point Arena and northward. There are at least five other 

 species of Gentian in the Sierra Nevada, mostly alpine or subalpine. 



2. ERYTHR>EA Renealm. Canchalagua. 

 Low erect leafy annuals, mostly freely branching. Flowers red or 

 pink, 5 or sometimes 4-merous, in cymes or cymosely paniculate. 

 Calyx-lobes narrow, carinate. Corolla salverform, the stamens 

 inserted on its throat. Flaments slender, the anthers oblong or 

 linear, twisting spirally after shedding their pollen and commonly 

 exserted. Style filiform, deciduous; stigmas oblong to fan-shaped. 

 Capsule oblong-ovate to fusiform, 1-celled, but the seed-bearing edges 

 of the valves more or less approximate in the center. Seeds oblong 

 or spherical, reticulate-pitted. (Greek eruthros, red, the flowers com- 

 monly of that color.) 



Anthers oblong; corolla-lobes 1% to 2}^ lines long. . . . 1. E. Muhlenbt rgii . 

 Anthers linear; corolla-lobes Z% to 4 lines long 2. E. trichantha. 



1. E. Muhlenbergii Griseb. Two or 3 to 9 in. high; leaves 

 oblong, the floral lanceolate; inflorescence sparsely paniculate; flowers 

 in the forks with short pedicels or hardly any; lateral flowers with 

 pedicels often as long as the flower and with 2 bractlets at summit; 

 corolla-lobes oval, obtuse or retuse, 1^ to 2£ lines long; anthers oblong; 

 seeds short-oval. 



Rather common in the Bay Region. 



2. E. trichantha Griseb. Nine in. high or less; leaves narrowly 

 ovate to oblong-lanceolate, 1£ in. long or less, inflorescence densely 

 eymose; corolla-lobes 3} to 4 lines long, very much shorter than the 

 tube, oblong, acute at apex but at length involute and therefore 

 seeming acuminate; anthers linear; stigmas small. 



Coast Range valleys at Calistoga and elsewhere. 



3. MICROCALA Hoffmgg. & Link. 

 Almost minute annual. Stem simple, or with peduncle-like 

 branches terminating in a 4-inerous yellow flower. Calyx 4-toothed. 

 Corolla short-salverform, the 4 short stamens inserted on its throat. 



