Gentiana andrewsii
Gentiana decora
Andrew's bottle gentian, bottle or fringe bottle or prairie closed gentian, closed bottle gentian
Appalachian gentian, mountain gentian, showy gentian
1–20, terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect.
1–4, terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade elliptic-oblong to lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 3–16 cm × 10–50 mm, apex acuminate.
cauline, ± evenly spaced or somewhat more widely spaced distally;
distal blades lance-elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 3–10 cm × 7–40 mm, apex acute to acuminate;
proximal blades oblanceolate to obovate, apex obtuse to acute.
1–25-flowered heads, often with additional flowers at 1–6(–9) nodes or on short branches.
± dense 1–15-flowered cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes or on short branches.
calyx 9–29 mm, lobes lanceolate to ovate or occasionally oblanceolate, 2–15 mm, margins ciliate;
corolla blue, white, or rarely rose-violet, tubular, completely closed, 28–45 mm, lobes reduced to a mucro or ± triangular, 0.5–2(–3) mm, free portions of plicae oblong, shallowly and nearly symmetrically bifid, summit truncate, erose;
anthers connate.
calyx 10–20 mm, lobes ± erect, subulate to linear or occasionally oblanceolate, 2–8(–12) mm, margins ciliate;
corolla white to pale or occasionally medium blue or violet, tubular, loosely closed to fully but narrowly open, 25–45 mm, lobes ovate-triangular, 3–6 mm, longer than plicae, free portions of plicae divided 1/2 or more of their length into 2 unequal, ± triangular, lacerate segments, narrower segment usuallly deflexed;
anthers connate.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
Gentiana andrewsii
Gentiana decora
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Gentiana andrewsii is the only species of Gentiana in which the plicae of the corolla are distinctly longer than the lobes.
Gentiana andrewsii has often been reported outside its actual range. Although the epithets of some of the species that have been confused with or considered inseparable from G. andrewsii have priority, the familiar name G. andrewsii is often misapplied, sometimes because it is assumed that any “closed gentian” is G. andrewsii. As G. clausa was not distinguished from G. andrewsii in standard floras prior to 1950, reports from the northeastern United States based on specimens identified before 1950 should be considered doubtful if the specimens have not been reexamined. Old reports from the southern Appalachians are also questionable because G. austromontana was not recognized until 1964. Some reports from the southeastern and south-central United States and along the Atlantic seaboard have been based on specimens of G. saponaria. True G. andrewsii is distinguishable as the only Gentiana species in which the corolla plicae distinctly exceed the minute lobes. The fringed tip of the completely closed corolla, at first white, soon turning reddish brown, is an excellent field mark for distinguishing G. andrewsii from G. clausa. In G. clausa, the summit of the intact corolla appears completely blue (in the typical color form), and the plicae are concealed. Gentiana andrewsii grows in calcareous soils and G. clausa in noncalcareous soils.
Because of this ecological separation, there are only a few records of hybridization between Gentiana andrewsii and G. clausa. In the tall-grass prairies, G. andrewsii hybridizes with G. flavida, producing G. × pallidocyanea J. S. Pringle, and with G. puberulenta, producing G. × billingtonii Farwell (as species). Northward, it occasionally hybridizes with G. rubricaulis, producing G. × grandilacustris J. S. Pringle, and in the southeastern part of its range it hybridizes with G. saponaria.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Hybrids of Gentiana decora with G. austromontana, G. clausa, and G. saponaria are known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Corolla lobes reduced to a mucro or at most minutely triangular, less than 1 mm. | var. andrewsii |
1. Corolla lobes triangular or ± rounded, 1–2(–3) mm. | var. dakotica |
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
