Gentiana parryi
Gentiana glauca
Parry's gentian
glaucous gentian, glaucous or blue-green or inky gentian, pale gentian
1–7(–14), terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect.
erect, arising singly at intervals from slender, elongating, horizontal rhizomes, forming patches.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade ovate, 1.5–4 cm × 8–21 mm, margins not ciliate, apex obtuse;
involucral leaves wider than cauline, ascending and conduplicate, partially enveloping base of inflorescence.
basal and cauline;
cauline ± abruptly more widely spaced;
blade elliptic to spatulate-obovate, apex obtuse;
basal and rosette leaf blades 0.8–2(–2.7) cm × 4–12 mm;
cauline blades 0.5–1.7 cm × 3–8(–12) mm.
2–7-flowered heads or occasionally solitary flowers, occasionally with additional flowers in 1 or 2 distal axils.
reduced, ± dense cymes, 2–5(–7)-flowered, also often a pair at most of the distal node, rarely solitary flowers.
calyx 10–20(–27) mm, lobes linear to lanceolate, (1–)4–8 mm;
corolla deep blue or violet-blue, campanulate, open, 33–50 mm, lobes spreading, obovate, 4–9 mm, free portions of plicae divided less than 1/2 their length into 2–5 triangular segments threadlike only toward apex;
anthers distinct.
calyx 5–7 mm, lobes ascending, lanceolate-triangular, 2–4 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla greenish blue or greenish yellow, rarely white, tubular, opening narrowly, (8–)12–20 mm, lobes ascending, triangular, 1.8–4 mm, free portions of plicae rounded, minutely erose;
anthers distinct.
not winged.
winged.
= 24.
Gentiana parryi
Gentiana glauca
Reports of Gentiana parryi outside the range indicated here have been based on specimens of G. calycosa or G. affinis (studies for this flora). Because of its restriction to high altitudes, populations of G. parryi are widely scattered, especially in the southern part of its range.
Gentiana parryi has sometimes been included in G. calycosa and less often in G. affinis, but its larger, conduplicate involucral leaves, which are more or less sharply differentiated from the distal cauline leaves and largely envelop the calyces, give G. parryi an aspect distinctly different from that of either G. calycosa or G. affinis. Biometric studies by J. R. Spence (unpubl.) have supported its recognition as a species. As noted by N. H. Holmgren (1984b), these species also differ in anther length, which is 3.5–5 mm in G. parryi and 1.6–3.2 mm in G. calycosa and G. affinis. In the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado, G. parryi and G. affinis appear especially well differentiated. Where the ranges of G. parryi and G. calycosa approach each other in the Intermountain Region, G. parryi usually grows in drier habitats than G. calycosa. The distinctive involucre of G. parryi is less well developed in some Arizona plants otherwise identifiable as this species, which should be given further study.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The description by Kellogg of var. paulensis does not indicate clearly how this variety was believed to differ from Gentiana glauca elsewhere in its range. Specimens from the Pribilof Islands examined in studies for this flora, including an isotype and other plants from Saint Paul Island, do not appear to be taxonomically separable.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
SW CO Wildflowers
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
BC
WA
Flora NW
PNW Herbaria
