Gentiana catesbaei
Gentiana rubricaulis
Catesby's or coastal plain gentian, Elliott's gentian
closed gentian, great lakes or red-stem or purple-stem gentian, red-stem gentian
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade usually ovate, occasionally elliptic, 1.5–7.5 cm × 4–30 mm, apex acute.
cauline, gradually more widely spaced distally;
blade linear to oblong-lanceolate (proximal) or lanceolate to ovate (distal), 3–9 cm × 8–30 mm, apex acute.
± dense 1–10-flowered cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–4(–8) nodes or on branches.
dense 1–15-flowered cymes, basally ± enveloped by ascending, conduplicate involucral leaves, rarely with additional flowers at one node.
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 10–26 mm, lobes oblong, 2–14 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla grayish violet to violet-blue or occasionally rose-violet or white, tubular, loosely closed or slightly open, 30–45 mm, lobes ascending, ovate-triangular, 4–8 mm, free portions of plicae obliquely triangular, erose, with minute, deflexed second segment;
anthers connate.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
Gentiana catesbaei
Gentiana rubricaulis
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.)
The name Gentiana linearis var. lanceolata A. Gray was applied originally to plants referable to G. linearis, although the name G. rubricaulis was cited in synonymy. The name G. linearis var. latifolia was applied originally only to G. rubricaulis, but both of these names were applied subsequently to both that species and relatively wide-leaved specimens of G. linearis. This confusion has been responsible in some cases for the rejection of specific status for G. rubricaulis, and for erroneous reports of G. rubricaulis in New York and Vermont. Reports from Nebraska were based on an old misidentification of G. puberulenta. Reports from Saskatchewan were also based on misidentified specimens. Reports of G. rubricaulis in Maine and New Brunswick are correct, although these populations are disjunct by about 775 km from the easternmost populations in Ontario.
In marked contrast to all other species of Gentiana in eastern and central North America, including G. linearis, the involucral leaves of this species are strongly ascending and somewhat conduplicate as well as being wider, and envelop the proximal portion of the flower cluster.
In the vicinity of Lake Superior, where the ranges of Gentiana rubricaulis and G. linearis overlap, these species maintain their distinctness, with G. rubricaulis occurring in calcareous soils and G. linearis in granitic and similar strongly acid soils (J. S. Pringle 1968). A few hybrids of G. rubricaulis with G. andrewsii, which is likewise a calciphile, are known. These hybrids have been designated G. × grandilacustris J. S. Pringle.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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