Gentiana clausa
Gentiana algida
bottle gentian, closed gentian, gentiane close, meadow bottle gentian
arctic gentian, whitish gentian
1–10, terminal from caudex, erect or decumbent.
1–few, arising laterally below rosettes or seemingly from center of rosettes because of large basal leaves, decumbent to erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade ovate, 3–15 cm × 10–45 mm, apex acuminate.
basal and cauline;
blades of basal and rosette leaves narrowly spatulate, 2–10(–14) cm × 1–7 mm, transitional to cauline leaves with blades oblanceolate to lanceolate or linear, 2–5 cm × 2–5 mm, blades of all leaves 6+ times as long as wide, apices obtuse to acute.
1–20-flowered heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes, rarely on short branches.
1–3-flowered.
calyx 8–22 mm, lobes spreading nearly horizontally, widely obovate or elliptic to orbiculate, 2–6(–10) mm, margins ciliate;
corolla blue or occasionally violet or white, tubular, completely closed, 23–40 mm, lobes incurved, ovate-triangular to semicircular, 0.7–2 mm, free portions of plicae ± as long and as wide as lobes, oblong, deeply and unequally bifid, summit erose;
anthers connate.
calyx 15–28 mm, lobes linear to lanceolate, (5–)7–12 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla abaxially suffused with blue-violet on and below lobes, adaxially white or yellowish white with dark purple and/or greenish spots and streaks, funnelform, open, 35–50 mm, lobes ascending to spreading, ovate-triangular, 2–5 mm, summit of plicae nearly truncate, erose;
anthers distinct.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
= 24.
Gentiana clausa
Gentiana algida
The corollas of Gentiana andrewsii, G. austromontana, and G. clausa all remain completely and tightly closed but are pollinated by bumblebees, which force open the corollas. The fresh corollas of G. clausa are rounded at the summit, with the plicae concealed by the true lobes. In contrast, the fresh corollas of G. andrewsii and G. austromontana are more acute, with the plicae forming much or all of the visible summit. The corolla lobes of G. clausa are about as long and as wide as the free portions of the plicae, whereas those of G. andrewsii and G. austromontana are distinctly narrower than the plicae. Also, in contrast to those of other species of Gentiana in the flora area except for G. flavida and G. latidens, the calyx lobes of G. clausa when fresh spread almost horizontally rather than being nearly erect.
Reports of Gentiana clausa from Indiana to Missouri and elsewhere west of the range given here have been based on specimens of G. andrewsii var. dakotica, second- or later-generation plants derived from G. andrewsii × G. puberulenta, or other hybrids and introgressants. In these plants, in contrast to G. clausa, the sepals are lanceolate and nearly erect, and the lobes of the intact corolla do not entirely conceal the plicae.
Gentiana clausa is largely isolated ecologically and geographically, but a few hybrids with G. andrewsii, G. austromontana, G. decora, and G. saponaria are known.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Gentiana algida of North America and Asia is sometimes considered conspecific with G. frigida Haenke of Europe. Early reports of differing chromosome numbers have been superseded by more recent counts indicating that 2n = 24 prevails in both species. If these taxa are united, the North American plants can be called G. algida var. algida. This designation is also applicable if varieties are recognized among the Japanese or other Asiatic representatives of this species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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