Gentiana clausa |
Gentiana latidens |
|
---|---|---|
bottle gentian, closed gentian, gentiane close, meadow bottle gentian |
balsam mountain gentian |
|
Habit | Herbs perennial, 2–8 dm, glabrous. | Herbs perennial, 2–10 dm, glabrous, rarely puberulent on stems and calyx tubes. |
Stems | 1–10, terminal from caudex, erect or decumbent. |
6–100+, terminal from caudex, erect or decumbent. |
Leaves | cauline, ± evenly spaced; blade ovate, 3–15 cm × 10–45 mm, apex acuminate. |
cauline, ± evenly spaced; blade ovate, 3–15 cm × 10–55 mm, apex acuminate. |
Inflorescences | 1–20-flowered heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes, rarely on short branches. |
1–20-flowered heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes. |
Flowers | 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 15–35(–45) mm, lobes spreading nearly horizontally when fresh, obovate, elliptic, ovate, orbiculate, or rhombic, 3–25(–35) mm, often strongly unequal, margins ciliate; corolla blue, ± loosely closed, 30–55 mm, lobes ± incurved to nearly erect, ovate-triangular, 2.5–5 mm, free portions of plicae ± as long and wide as lobes, oblong, deeply and unequally bifid, summit erose; anthers connate. |
Seeds | winged. |
winged. |
2n | = 26. |
|
Gentiana clausa |
Gentiana latidens |
|
Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Moist, open woods, stream banks, roadsides, acid soils. | Moist to wet rocky slopes, roadsides, acid soils. |
Elevation | 0–800 m. (0–2600 ft.) | 1300–1700 m. (4300–5600 ft.) |
Distribution |
CT; DC; MA; MD; ME; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WV; QC; restricted to higher elevations southward
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NC |
Discussion | 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 latidens is known only from the Plott Balsam and Great Balsam mountains and Pisgah Ridge in Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Transylvania counties, and perhaps also in Clay County. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. |
Parent taxa | Gentianaceae > Gentiana | Gentianaceae > Gentiana |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | G. saponaria var. latidens | |
Name authority | Rafinesque: Med. Fl. 1: 210. (1828) | (House) J. S. Pringle & Weakley: Rhodora 111: 394. (2009) |
Web links |