

Gentianaceae 305 
FRAXINUS ASH 
Flowers small, greenish, in fascicles, appearing before or with the leaves. Calyx 
4-cleft (ours) or irregularly toothed or entire. Stigma 2-cleft. Fruit flat, long-winged at 
one end. Seeds I1—2, oblong. (Gk. phraxis—=a separation; because the wood splits 
easly.) W.C. E. F. oregana Nutt. (Oregon Ash) 
GENTIANACEAE Gentian Family 
Herbs, bitter, mostly quite glabrous. Leaves opposite, or rarely whorled or alternate, 
entire or nearly so, or mere scales (not ours); sfipules none. Flowers regular, perfect, in 
terminal or axillary clusters, or solitary at the ends of stems or branches. Calyx persist- 
ent, 4—] 2-toothed to -divided, or of 2 sepals (not ours). Corolla gamopetalous, funnel- 
form or campanulate or club-shaped or rotate; lobes as many as the sepals. Stamens 
as many as corolla-lobes, alternate with them, on the tube or throat. Ovary superior 
(ours), I-celled or partly 2-celled; style O—1; stigmas |—2. Capsule mostly dehiscent 
by 2 valves. Seeds many. 
A. Flowers yellow, the parts in 4’s. MIcROCALA (p. 305). 
AA. Flowers either not yellow or else the parts in 5’s. 
B. Corolla longer than rotate. 
C. Style filiform, deciduous; anthers twisted when old. CENTAURIUM (p. 305) 
CC. Style short and persistent or none; anthers not twisted when old. 
GENTIANA (p. 306) 
BB. Corolla rotate. 
D. Style very short or none; flower-parts in 5’s. SWERTIA (p. 307) 
DD. Style slender, long; flower-parts in 4’s. FRASERA (p. 307) 
MICROCALA 
Annual, ours 5—7.5 cm. high. Leaves opposite, entire, sessile; in ours 2——3 
pairs, 4—6 mm. long. Flowers yellow. Calyx 4-toothed, 4-angled. Corolla short- 
salverform, about 6 mm. long (ours). Style filiform, deciduous; stigma of 2 fan- 
shaped and at first united lobes. Seeds many. (Gk. mikros=small, kalos—beautiful: 
hence a small beauty.) U. M. quadrangularis Griseb. 
CENTAURIUM (Centaurion, Erythraea) CENTAURY 
Low, mostly annual or biennial. Leaves entire, sessile. Flowers usually many, 
pink or white or yellow (not ours), in cymes or spikes. Calyx tubular, 4—5-lobed or 
-divided; segments narrow, keeled. Corolla salverform. Filaments slender. Ovary 
I-celled; placentae more or less intruded; style filiform; stigma 2-lobed; lobes oblong 
to fan-shaped. Capsule oblong-obovoid to fusiform, 2-valved. (L. centum—100, 
aurum—gold or gold-pieces; referring to the medicinal value.) 
A. Stem 2.5—5 cm. high; leaves 2—6 mm. long, lanceolate. W. 
C. minimum (How. ) 
AA. Stem more than 5 cm. high; leaves more than 6 mm. long, not lanceolate. 
B. Basal leaves in a rosette. W. (C. centaurium.) 
C. umbellatum Gileb. (Bitter-herb) 
BB. Basal leaves not in a rosette. 
C. Corolla-lobes obutse or retuse; pedicels mostly shorter than the flowers. W. 
E. (E. curvistamenea.) C. muhlenbergii Wight 
CC. Corolla-lobes obtuse or acute; pedicels much longer than the flowers. 
