Gentiana clausa
Gentiana catesbaei
bottle gentian, closed gentian, gentiane close, meadow bottle gentian
Catesby's or coastal plain gentian, Elliott's gentian
1–10, terminal from caudex, erect or decumbent.
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade ovate, 3–15 cm × 10–45 mm, apex acuminate.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade usually ovate, occasionally elliptic, 1.5–7.5 cm × 4–30 mm, apex acute.
1–20-flowered heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes, rarely on short branches.
± dense 1–10-flowered cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–4(–8) nodes or on branches.
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 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.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
Gentiana clausa
Gentiana catesbaei
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 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.)
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