Gentiana platypetala
Gentiana affinis
broad-petal gentian
bottle gentian, gentian, pleated gentian, prairie gentian, Rocky Mountain gentian, Rocky Mountain or oblong-leaf or marsh gentian
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
1–10(–20), terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect, glabrous or puberulent in lines below leaf bases or more extensively.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade widely ovate to elliptic, 1.5–4 cm × 8–22 mm, apex obtuse.
cauline, variably spaced;
blade oblong or elliptic to ovate, lanceolate, or nearly linear, 1–5 cm × (2–)3–20(–25) mm, generally 2+ times as long as wide, margins ciliate, apex obtuse to acute.
solitary flowers or occasionally a terminal pair.
racemoid thyrses of ± dense 1–6-flowered cymules, terminating main stem and usually on short branches at distal 1–6(–12) nodes.
calyx 8–12 mm, tube cleft to base or nearly so into 2 spathaceous segments, lobes elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 0.5–5 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla bright blue, campanulate, open, 30–38 mm, lobes widely ovate-triangular, 6–11 mm, free portions of plicae spreading, low-triangular, less than 1 mm, notched at apex, otherwise entire;
anthers distinct.
calyx 5–18(–23) mm, tube occasionally deeply cleft, lobes linear to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or occasionally some rudimentary, (0–)1–13 mm, margins ciliate;
corolla blue, sometimes with pale dots adaxially on lobes, or rarely pale violet or white, tubular-funnelform, open, (12–)18–40(–45) mm, lobes ± spreading, oblong-ovate, 3–7(–10) mm, free portions of plicae divided less than 1/2 their length into 2 ± triangular, lacerate segments;
anthers distinct.
not winged.
winged.
Gentiana platypetala
Gentiana affinis
Gentiana platypetala is restricted to sites near the Pacific largely confined to the insular ranges of British Columbia and southern Alaska from northern Vancouver Island, Queen Charlotte Islands, and Alice Arm, British Columbia, northwest to Kodiak Island, Alaska, but occasionally on mainland coastal ranges.
The distinctive spathaceous calyces of this species are strongly suffused with reddish purple.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).
Gentiana affinis is highly variable, and some authors have divided it into several species, or have recognized more varieties than the two accepted in this flora. N. H. Holmgren (1984b) speculated that further studies might disclose patterns that would warrant the recognition of additional infraspecific taxa in G. affinis. From studies for the present and earlier works, however, only two varieties appear to be well differentiated, and even these intergrade in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and northern California, especially in Del Norte County, California. Despite the very different vegetative aspects of the extremes, which sometimes occur more or less sympatrically, intergradation is so extensive that the recognition of these taxa as distinct species seems inappropriate. The treatment of G. affinis presented here, although based on an independent approach involving the study of numerous specimens, is essentially in agreement with that of Holmgren and is supported by biometric analyses by J. R. Spence (unpubl.), which confirmed the intergradation between var. affinis and var. ovata.
Only var. affinis approaches the range of Gentiana puberulenta. Large plants of G. affinis generally differ from small plants of G. puberulenta in the proportionate lengths of the corolla lobes and the free portions of the plicae. In G. affinis, the lobes are less than two times as long as the free portions of the plicae; in G. puberulenta they are generally two or more times as long.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. All leaf blades generally linear to lanceolate, narrowly oblong, or narrowly ovate; calyx lobes narrowly linear (occasionally some or all rudimentary); corollas (12–)18–30(–35) mm, lobes usually 3–5 mm. | var. affinis |
1. Proximal and mid-stem leaf blades elliptic to ovate; calyx lobes linear to elliptic-lanceolate (occasionally some rudimentary); corollas (12–)30–40(–45) mm, lobes usually 5–7 mm. | var. ovata |
BC
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
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USDA Plants Database
OR
WA
Flora NW
