Gentiana catesbaei
Gentiana parryi
Catesby's or coastal plain gentian, Elliott's gentian
Parry's gentian
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
1–7(–14), terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade usually ovate, occasionally elliptic, 1.5–7.5 cm × 4–30 mm, apex acute.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade ovate, 1.5–4 cm × 8–21 mm, margins not ciliate, apex obtuse;
involucral leaves wider than cauline, ascending and conduplicate, partially enveloping base of inflorescence.
± dense 1–10-flowered cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–4(–8) nodes or on branches.
2–7-flowered heads or occasionally solitary flowers, occasionally with additional flowers in 1 or 2 distal axils.
calyx 17–55 mm, lobes erect, lanceolate, 10–35 mm, mostly longer than tube, often ± foliaceous, margins ciliate;
corolla blue or occasionally rose-violet, tubular, slightly to fully but narrowly open, 35–55 mm, lobes ± erect to spreading, deltate-ovate, 5–10 mm, usually 2–4 mm longer than plicae, free portions of plicae divided 1/2 or more of their length into 2 subequal, erect, ± triangular, lacerate segments;
anthers connate.
calyx 10–20(–27) mm, lobes linear to lanceolate, (1–)4–8 mm;
corolla deep blue or violet-blue, campanulate, open, 33–50 mm, lobes spreading, obovate, 4–9 mm, free portions of plicae divided less than 1/2 their length into 2–5 triangular segments threadlike only toward apex;
anthers distinct.
winged.
not winged.
Gentiana catesbaei
Gentiana parryi
Gentiana catesbaei is believed to be extirpated from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Specimens from Alabama have been reidentified as G. saponaria as all such specimens seen in studies for this flora had the elliptic leaves and short calyx lobes typical of G. saponaria rather than the ovate leaves and much longer calyx lobes that characterize G. catesbaei.
From the more widely distributed Gentiana saponaria, G. catesbaei differs most conspicuously in its ovate rather than elliptic leaves, widest proximal to rather than near mid-length; calyx lobes widest near mid-length and usually 1.5–3 times as long as the tube; and generally with spreading rather than incurved corolla lobes.
Gentiana catesbaei is almost entirely restricted to the Atlantic coastal plain, where it displaces the closely related G. saponaria south of northeastern North Carolina. In the northern part of its range, where the ranges of these species overlap, they generally remain distinct, although a few plants apparently of hybrid origin have been found. A hybrid with the much less similar G. villosa is also known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Reports of Gentiana parryi outside the range indicated here have been based on specimens of G. calycosa or G. affinis (studies for this flora). Because of its restriction to high altitudes, populations of G. parryi are widely scattered, especially in the southern part of its range.
Gentiana parryi has sometimes been included in G. calycosa and less often in G. affinis, but its larger, conduplicate involucral leaves, which are more or less sharply differentiated from the distal cauline leaves and largely envelop the calyces, give G. parryi an aspect distinctly different from that of either G. calycosa or G. affinis. Biometric studies by J. R. Spence (unpubl.) have supported its recognition as a species. As noted by N. H. Holmgren (1984b), these species also differ in anther length, which is 3.5–5 mm in G. parryi and 1.6–3.2 mm in G. calycosa and G. affinis. In the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado, G. parryi and G. affinis appear especially well differentiated. Where the ranges of G. parryi and G. calycosa approach each other in the Intermountain Region, G. parryi usually grows in drier habitats than G. calycosa. The distinctive involucre of G. parryi is less well developed in some Arizona plants otherwise identifiable as this species, which should be given further study.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
SW CO Wildflowers
