38 WILD FLOWERS OF THE BRITISH ISLES 
Flowers few or solitary ; sepals, petals, and stamens 5 ; corolla-throat not fringed with hairs ; 
2 bracts at the base of the calyx. 
(1) Marsh Gentian. (Gentiana Pneumonan'the.) — Flowers 1-3 at the top of the stem, 
large. 
Flowers solitary. 
(2) Spring Gentian. (Gentiana ver'na.) — Flowers large, corolla with 5 minute alternating 
2-cleft lobes. 
(3) Alpine Gentian. (Gentiana nivalis.) — Flowers small, corolla with 5 minute alternating 
lobes which are 2-cleft. 
Flowers numerous, solitary in the axils of the leaves, forming long leafy clusters ; corolla-throat 
fringed with hairs ; without bracts at the base of the calyx. 
Sepals, petals, and stamens 5. 
(4) Common Autumn Gentian. (Gentiana Amarel'la.) — Calyx-lobes equal ; corolla-tube 
rather longer than the calyx. 
(5) Scarce Autumn Gentian. (Gentiana german'ica.) — Calyx-lobes unequal ; corolla-tube 
much longer than the calyx. 
Sepals, petals, and stamens 4. 
(6) Field Gentian. (Gentiana campes'tris.) — Two outer calyx-lobes much broader than the 
2 inner, corolla-tube longer than the calyx. 
(7) Baltic Gentian. (Gentiana baltica.) — Two outer calyx-lobes much broader than the 2 
inner, corolla-tube shorter than the calyx. 
1. Marsh Gentian. (Gentiana Pneumonanthe. Linn.)— As just described. The 
handsomest of all the British species. The flowers are ii-2 inches long, bell-shaped, of a 
vivid deep blue inside, with a greenish broad stripe down the outside of each corolla-lobe, and 
with 2 narrow bracts at the base of the calyx, solitary or rarely 2 or 3 together in the axils of the 
upper pair of leaves and terminating the stem. The calyx-lobes are narrow and turned back ; the 
corolla-tube is much longer than the calyx and not fringed at the throat ; the parts of the flower 
are in fives. The stem is 3-18 inches high, erect, unbranched, and leafy; and the leaves are 
narrow, blunt, shiny, and rather thick. [Plate 13. 
Rare, local. On moist boggy heaths in many counties in England ; not a native in Scotland and 
Ireland. August — September. Annual. 
2. Spring 1 Gentian. (Gentiana ver'na. Linn.)— A lovely little species [as 
described in the genus Gentian (Gentiana)] with a rather large vivid dark blue flower, 1 inch 
across, terminating the stem, and 2 oval leaf-like bracts just below the calyx, which is 5-cleft ; the 
corolla-tube has no hairs at the throat, and the corolla-limb is divided into 5 broad blunt lobes, 
with 5 minute alternating 2-cleft teeth ; the stamens are 5 in number. The plant is densely tufted, 
often 4 or 5 inches in diameter, throwing up short flowering stems, sometimes so short that the 
solitary flower appears stalkless (sessile), and sometimes 2 or 3 inches high with 1 or 2 pairs of 
small leaves below the flower : the leaves are oval or oblong and smooth. 
Very rare. On wet rocks in limestone districts, in Teesdale, and in Ireland in Co. Clare and Co. 
Galway. April — June. Perennial. 
3 . Small Alpine Gentian. (Genti&na nivalis. Linn.)— A similar though much 
smaller species. The vivid deep blue flowers are only inch across, sometimes solitary and 
