Gentian Family. — Gentianaceæ
Fringed Gentian. Gentiana crinita.
Found in fields, pastures, and along wayside thickets, frequently where it is damp; coming into bloom late in August and continuing until middle October or later.
The stalk, which branches for the flowers, grows usually from 6 inches to 2 feet in height, and is somewhat square near the blossoms, and sometimes twisted; it is grooved, smooth and shining, and light green, tempered with bronze.
The leaf is heart-shaped at the base, tapering sharply to a long-pointed tip, slightly creased on the midrib, with an entire margin, and thin smooth texture. In color it is light green. The leaves clasp the stalk in pairs, which occur at right angles to each other.
The corolla is a deep vase shape spreading at the top into 4 fringed lobes which curve like shells; of a delicate thin texture, and satin smooth surface, in color an evasive azure, impossible to describe, varying from pale to deep (sometimes reddish tinted), and marked upon the outside with fine lines of darker blue. The 4-parted calyx is pinched into 4 angles at its base, and is a light yellow-green color, its long, sharp tips sometimes bronzy. The flowers are set on short, and long, leafy stems; in groups, or singly.
Though often low, and bearing but one flower, it is not uncommon to find a single tall stalk adorned with a dozen or two of blossoms, and a reliable observer reports having found plants 5 feet in stature, and bearing upwards of a hundred flowers and buds apiece! This remarkable luxuriance could only have occurred in some solitary mountain glen unknown to the gentian-hunter, who, between greedy admiration of its beauty and ignorance of its habits, is doing his best to exterminate the plant. The seeds are exceedingly capricious in their choice of a home, and refuse to germinate when garden-sown. For the æsthetic pleasure also it is best not to pluck them; their charm loses its subtlety when carried into civilized environments—the spirit of their loveliness escapes imprisonment.
| Blind Gentian. | Gentiana Andrewsii. |
| Closed Gentian. |
Found in rich woodlands and pastures, blossoming in September and October.
The single leafy stalk, from 1 foot to 18 inches in height, is round, stout, smooth, and green.
The leaf is large (from 2 to 4 inches long), usually bread oval in shape, tapering to the tip, with an entire margin, and a thick texture; the surface is smooth, and the color a rich green that is frequently weather-worn and rusty. The leaves are set in pairs upon the stalk.
The flower is like a closed bud which never opens, an inflated club-shape from 1 to 1 and ½ inches in length; the corolla is a dark purple-blue color, growing lighter near the base, and in its folds; the 5-parted calyx is more or less green. The flowers are gathered together in a close cluster of four or five, upon the summit of the stalk, amidst the numerous green leaves.
The color of the closed gentian, being low and rich in tone rather than brilliant, loses greatly in value when gathered and fetched into the subdued light of the house.