sso 
GENT 
lovvlfii on the oiitfide, whltlfli within, intenfely bitter: 
the whole plant is fmooth and fliining ; Hem t'rom half 
a loot to two feet in height, round or llightly angular, 
creCf, a finger thick at the bafe, wliich is covered vvitlt 
ilieathing fcales, having a bifid or trifid rnoutli ; leaves 
oppofite, broad ovate or lanceolate, acute, quite entire, 
bright green, foaiewhat plaited, having five prominent 
paie nerves on ilie back, attenuated into connate pe¬ 
tioles ; the, upper ones more feflile. Although this re- 
J'einbles G. purpurea, yet it has a inucli fmaller flower, 
of a different colour from that; the ffem-leaves al/o are 
ovate and (harpifh, but never produced into a point. 
Native of Swiflerland, the Tyrol, Silefia, and the Car¬ 
pathian mountains. 
8. Gentiana feptemfida, or feven-cleft gentian: co- 
r.)llas {'even and five cleft, with ciliate fegments inter- 
pof'ed ; leaves ovate-acuminate, fomewhat ftem-clafping. 
Stem a foot or eighteen inches in height, having llie air 
of G. afclepiadea, round, linooth, quite fimple ; tlie 
whole plant is fmooth ; botli root and lierb are very 
bitter. Native of the mountains of Perfia near the Caf- 
pian fea, and of the Cherfonefus I’aurica. 
9. Gentiana afclepiadea, or f'wallow-wort leaved gen¬ 
tian : corollas five-cleft, bell-fhaped, oppofite, feflile; 
leaves flem-clafping. Stem upright, near a foot high ; 
leaves fmootli, about two inches long, and three quar¬ 
ters of an inch broad at the bafe, embracing there, and 
ending in an acute point ; tliey are of a fine green, have 
five longitudinal veins, joining at both ends, but di¬ 
verging in the middle, and refembling tliofe of afcle- 
pias, wlience it has the trivial name. This is the mofl ' 
taflelefs and leaft bitter of the genus. Ray fays that 
the root is very bitter. Native of Swifferland, Hun¬ 
gary, Stiria, Auffria, Silefia, Piedmont, Barbary, mount 
Caucafus, &c. It flowers with us in July and Aiigufr. 
Cultivated in 1629, as appears from Parkinfon. 
10. Gentiana triflora, or three-flowered gentian : co^ 
rollas bell-fhaped, five-cleft, aggregate-feflile; leaves 
linear; floral leaves four, tv/o longer and two fhorter. 
Root fibrous ; root-leaves none ; flem upright, very 
ftraiglit, a fi.'an high; round, furi.ifhed witli very fmall 
leaves at the bottom, becoming gradually longer higher 
Tip, decuffately oppofite ; they are Hiff and fomewhat 
rigid, blunt at the end, and turned back at the edge ; 
the largeft are near three inches in length. It is really 
different from G. pneumonanthe,. with which it may ea- 
fily be confounded, from having a flower of tlie fame 
colour, by its being fo ftiffly upright, and bitter, ft 
flowers in July and Auguff. Native of Eaftern Siberia. 
11. Gentiana pneumonantlie, marfl; gentian, or cala- 
thian violet .s corollas five-cleft, bell-fhaped; flowers 
eduncled ; leaves linear. Stem upright, about a foot 
igh; leaves linooth, an inch and half long, and lefs 
than a quarter of an inch broad ; flowers on the top of 
ilie ffalk, three or four in number, on peduncles alter- 
jnately above eacli other ; they are large, and, being of 
a deep blue colour, make a fine appearance. The fiow- 
. ers, according to Haller, are folitary and almoft feflile 
in the axils or bofoms of the leaves, Pollich fays, that 
one terminates tlie ftem, and the reft are axillary, foli¬ 
tary, and fubfellile ; Scopoli, that tlie lower corollas 
are peduneled and from, the axils. Krocker deferibes 
them as terminating and axillary,,peduncled,. folitary or 
in pairs, lix, eight, or ten, in the whole, with two.or four 
ffipules uocier the peduncles. Thele variations occur 
in different foils and fftuations : with us certainly the 
plant Icldom bears more than one or two flowers ; but 
after a wet Ipring it is found much, more luxuriant, bear-, 
ing five, fix, or feven,. flowers. 
Pallas diltiiiguifhes this from his trifi'ora, by its hav¬ 
ing a morv flender ffalk, and the leaves more lanceolate 
and acute; one flower at the end, the reff axillary, all 
peduneled wheatliere are I'everal ; for fometimes there 
is no more than one; calyx, deeply five-cleft, tlie feg- 
jiients linear^, two alternate ones larger than the reft; 
I A N A.' 
corolla larger, more dilated ;it the throat, plaited, the 
fegments lharper and fubferrate, with a tooth of the 
pl.iit between eacli. The ffnicture of the flower there¬ 
fore is very different from tlie fqregoing. 
Native of Sweden, Denmark, England, Swifferland', 
Carniola, tlie Palatinate, Silefia, Piedmont, in the tenv- 
perate parts of Rufiia and till Siberia, in moift meadows 
and marflies ; Ray found it near Lindau in Germany. 
It flowers in Auguff and September ; or, as Liniueirs 
obferve.s, witli the eolchicum. With us it is not very 
common in the fouth, but in the norili much more fo ; in 
I.incoliifhire and Yorkfliire abundant, in the boggy parts 
of heaths, as in Tatterfiial park ; found by Mr. Newton 
between Clapham and Engleton ; near Doncaffer by 
Mr. 'I'ofield ; near Milthorp in Weftmoreland, and in 
Lancafhire common ; near Tunbridge in Kent, by Dr. 
Wilmer; on I.ongfield downs near Grav'efend, near 
Greenhithe, Cobham, See. in Kent, and near Batli, by 
Gcrarde ; at Lelliiigftone, and near Dartford in Kent, 
and in the wefl country in divers places, by Parkinfon. 
Johiifon (Ger. emac.) is of opinion that Gerarde did 
not know tlie plant, and f.iys tliat he never found it but 
once, and tliat was on a wet moorifh ground in Lincoln- 
fhire, called Netleton moor, two or three miles on tliis 
fide Gaffer. Johnfon was fo well acquainted with Kent, 
that lie .cannot well be deceived. On Stratton Str-awlels 
heath, near Norvvicli, by Stilliugfleet. , 
12. Gentiana laponaria, or loapwort-leavcd gentian;, 
corollas five-cleft, bell-fhaped, ventricofe in whorls; 
leaves three-nerved. This rifes ufually fixteen inches 
high, ivith upright ffraiglit ffems, Jiaviiig long fliarp- 
poiated oppofite leaves,, i'preading horizontally ; from 
the axils of thefe come out four or five blue flowers. Na¬ 
tive of North America.. Introduced in 1776, by Mr.Wil¬ 
liam Young ; it flowers in Auguff and September. 
'13. Gentiana villofa, or hairy gentian : corollas five- 
cleft, bell-fhaped,. ventricofe; leaves villofe.. Native 
of Virginia. 
14. Gentiana aeaulis, dwarf gentiana, or gentianella r. 
corolla five-cleft, bell-fliaped, higher titan the ffalk,. 
Root large, woody, branched ; ftem from only one to. 
three inches in height, with one or two pairs of leaves on. 
it, and terminated by one very large, upright, handfome 
flower; in a garden, wlien- the plants are ftrong, there 
are fometimes more. This pUint, in i&s natural alpine 
fituation, has little or no flem, whence its trivial name; 
but it acquires one in a-flate of cultivation. Native of 
Swifferland, Auffria, Carniola, and Silefia; Ray re- 
' marked it on the highefl parts of mount Jura ; it flowers 
in our gardens in April and May, and f ometimes a fecond 
time in the autumn; in the Alps the time of flowering Is 
June, July, and Auguff; it was cultivated in 1629, ac¬ 
cording to Parkinfon ; and in-1636, it was to be foiuid in 
moft of our choice gardens, as with Mr. Parkinfon, Tra- 
defcant, Tuggye, See. 
15. Gentiana nana, or tufted dwarf gentian: corolla 
five-cleft, bell-fhaped, bearded on the throat, ffem-leaves 
ovate. Root Imall, annual, very flender, bitterifh; 
ffems in tufts, from an inch to a fpan in height, feldom. 
branched, decumbent at bottom, then upriglit, jointed, 
leafy, terminated by one ffower ; it flowers at the end of 
Auguff. Native-of Dauplrine, Savoy, Piedmont, Silefia;. 
dilting'uifhed from G. nivalis, to wliieh it is- very nearly 
allied,, by its tender ovate leaves witliout veins, its 
flender ftalks bearing ufually one flower only, the feg¬ 
ments of the flower nearly eredff, and the calyx by no 
means long, and tnbular. 
16.. Gentiana exaltata, or crowned gentian: corollas 
five-cleft, crowned notched,, peduncle very long, dicho¬ 
tomous, terminating. Tins, rifes with an upright 
branching ffalk, near two feet high; the upper part di¬ 
vides into leveral forks, between which, are fix or feven. 
long naked peduncles, ea.cli fuftaining one large bine 
flower. Native of the Weff Indies, difeovered by Plu- 
mier 5 and found afterwards by Howftoiui plentifully at 
' Ver.a 
