Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana glauca
downy gentian, prairie gentian
glaucous gentian, glaucous or blue-green or inky gentian, pale gentian
1–5(–20), terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
erect, arising singly at intervals from slender, elongating, horizontal rhizomes, forming patches.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–7 cm × 4–18 mm, apex obtuse to acute.
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.
1–6-flowered dense cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes or on short branches.
reduced, ± dense cymes, 2–5(–7)-flowered, also often a pair at most of the distal node, rarely solitary flowers.
calyx 11–36 mm, lobes linear, 4–18(–25) mm, margins ciliate;
corolla deep blue or rarely rose-violet, narrowly campanulate, open, (30–)35–60 mm, lobes spreading or ± recurved, ovate, 6–15 mm, free portions of plicae divided less than 1/2 their length into 2 ± triangular, lacerate segments;
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.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
= 24.
Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana glauca
Gentiana puberulenta is evidently extirpated from Ontario, Louisiana, Maryland, and New York, where outlying prairie communities have largely been eliminated by agricultural and urban expansion.
The name Gentiana puberula Michaux 1803, not Franchet 1890, and the homotypic synonym Dasystephana puberula (Michaux) Small have long and often been misapplied to this species but are typified by a specimen of G. saponaria.
Some small plants of Gentiana puberulenta appear similar to G. affinis var. affinis, but only a few specimens appear actually to be hybrids between these species. Where their ranges approach each other, the flowers of G. affinis are generally much smaller than those of G. puberulenta, and the corolla lobes of G. affinis are generally less than twice as long as the free portions of the plicae, whereas those of G. puberulenta are more than twice as long. The flower size of G. affinis var. ovata more closely approaches that of G. puberulenta, but in that variety, the range of which does not overlap that of G. puberulenta, the leaves are usually ovate to elliptic rather than narrowly oblong-lanceolate, and the distal internodes are often about as long as or longer than the leaves, in contrast to the proportionately shorter internodes of G. puberulenta. For further guidance in distinguishing between G. puberulenta and G. affinis, see discussion under 13. G. affinis.
Hybrids of Gentiana puberulenta with the strikingly dissimilar G. andrewsii, constituting G. × billingtonii Farwell (as species), and with G. flavida, constituting G. × curtisii J. S. Pringle, occur in the tall-grass prairies. Hybrids with G. saponaria formerly occurred in western Maryland.
(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.)
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