Gentiana clausa
Gentiana villosa
bottle gentian, closed gentian, gentiane close, meadow bottle gentian
striped gentian, striped or pale or straw-color gentian
1–10, terminal from caudex, erect or decumbent.
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade ovate, 3–15 cm × 10–45 mm, apex acuminate.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade obovate or spatulate to elliptic, 2.5–10 cm × 10–40 mm, proximal blade apices retuse or truncate to obtuse, distal ± acute.
1–20-flowered heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes, rarely on short branches.
± dense 1–10-flowered cymes, often with additional flowers at 1 or 2(–4) 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 11–50 mm, lobes linear to oblanceolate, 5–35 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla largely white or greenish white with veins outlined in green, sometimes suffused with violet, or grayish violet ± throughout, tubular, narrowly open, 30–55 mm, lobes ascending, ovate-triangular, 4–10 mm, free portions of plicae obliquely triangular, erose, occasionally shallowly bifid;
anthers connate or distinct.
winged.
not winged.
= 26.
= 26.
Gentiana clausa
Gentiana villosa
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 villosa is believed to be extirpated from Delaware, the District of Columbia, and New Jersey.
Although the name Gentiana ochroleuca is a heterotypic synonym of G. villosa, it was sometimes applied to G. flavida during the nineteenth century. Such a misapplication is responsible for reports of G. ochroleuca from Illinois. Reports of G. villosa from Arkansas are plausible but remain unsubstantiated.
The species name is a misnomer as plants of Gentiana villosa species are glabrous. The use of the translation “hairy gentian” as a common name is inappropriate and potentially confusing.
There is one record each of hybrids of Gentiana villosa with G. autumnalis and G. catesbaei.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Go Botany
MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
LA Plants
