THE GENTIAN FAMILY 
[ORDER L. GENTIANE/E] 
CALYX of 4 or 5, rarely 6-8 SEPALS, 
free or united at the base, remaining with 
the fruit (persistent), entirely free from and 
inserted below the seedcase (inferior). 
COROLLA of 4 or 5, rarely 6-8 PETALS, 
the same number as the sepals, usually 
twisted in bud, united into a tube at the 
base, the limb salver-, funnel-, or rarely 
cup-shaped, sometimes fringed at the top 
of the tube below the spreading lobes, 
inserted below the seedcase (hypogyn- 
ous). 
STAMENS 4, 5, or 6-8, the same number 
as the petals and alternating with them, 
inserted in the corolla-tube (epi-petal- 
ous). 
PISTIL of 2 CARPELS, uniting into a 
1 -celled or imperfectly 2-celled seedcase 
and 1 or 2 styles crowned with a stigma 
which is frequently 2-lobed. 
FRUIT a capsule, 1- or imperfectly 
2-celled, many-seeded, usually opening at 
the top with 2 valves. 
FLOWERS brilliantly coloured, usually in 
lorked clusters with the central flower 
opening first (cyme). 
STEMS with a bitter watery juice. 
LEAVES opposite, entire, and usually with- 
out stalks (sessile). 
DISTINGUISHED from the Primrose 
Family by the stamens alternating with 
the corolla-lobes, the usually 2-lobed stigma, 
and the capsule opening with 2 valves, and 
distinguished at a glance from the Bell- 
flower Family by the seedcase being frte 
from the calyx. 
T HE Gentian is a small family but with a wide distribution. It thrives best in temperate 
climates, though it is to be found nearly all over the world. In North America are to be 
found the beautiful Sabbatias, unfortunately so difficult of cultivation. From S. Africa we obtain 
the Chironias which are grown in greenhouses. But the order is best known by the genus 
Gentiana, which abounds all over temperate Europe and Asia, from the meadows and mountains 
of the British Isles to the Alps, Caucasus, and Himalaya, where they thrive in similar abodes to 
those loved by the Primrose tribe, and add their intense dazzling blues and yellow to the mass of 
colour already there. 
Many species of Gentian are cultivated in rock gardens, but they are difficult to rear unless 
well shielded from cold north and east winds. Most of the members of the order are extremely 
bitter and some are employed in medicine as tonics. 
Capsule opening with 2 valves. 
I. Yellow-wort (Blackst6nia). Flowers in clusters, yellow, star-like (rotate); sepals, petals, 
and stamens 8 or 6; stigmas 2, each 2-cleft ; leaves opposite, often united at the 
base. 
34 
