Gentiana clausa
Gentiana douglasiana
bottle gentian, closed gentian, gentiane close, meadow bottle gentian
Douglas' gentian, swamp gentian
1–10, terminal from caudex, erect or decumbent.
1, often branched from near base and distally, main axis erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade ovate, 3–15 cm × 10–45 mm, apex acuminate.
basal and cauline, cauline ± evenly spaced;
basal blades oblong-obovate to ovate, 0.4–2.3 cm × 2–9 mm, apex obtuse to acute;
cauline blades ovate to elliptic, 0.3–1 cm × 2–7 mm on main axis, smaller on branches, apex generally ± acute.
1–20-flowered heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes, rarely on short branches.
solitary flowers or open, 2–7-flowered cymes terminating main axis and 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 4–7 mm, lobes linear-oblong, 1.5–3 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla adaxially white with purple spots near base of lobes distal to yellowish green throat, abaxially suffused with green and distally with deep blue, nearly salverform, open, 9–14 mm, lobes ovate-triangular, 3–5 mm, free portions of plicae symmetrically divided to base into 2 lanceolate, acuminate segments;
anthers distinct.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
= 26.
Gentiana clausa
Gentiana douglasiana
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.)
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