Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana pennelliana
downy gentian, prairie gentian
wiregrass gentian
1–5(–20), terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
1, terminal from caudex, decumbent.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–7 cm × 4–18 mm, apex obtuse to acute.
all cauline, gradually more distantly spaced distally;
blade linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 1–3.5 cm × 0.5–5 mm, apex obtuse (proximal leaves) to acute.
1–6-flowered dense cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes or on short branches.
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 18–45 mm, lobes linear, 10–30 mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla white with greenish purple lines abaxially on and below lobes, funnelform, open, 35–65 mm, lobes spreading, ovate, 15–25 mm, free portions of plicae deeply divided into 2 subequal, lacerate, attenuate segments;
anthers distinct.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana pennelliana
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.)
Gentiana pennelliana is endemic to Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Leon, Liberty, Wakulla, and Walton counties in northern Florida. It usually grows in plant communities in which wiregrass, Aristida stricta, is a prominent component, hence the common name.
Gentiana pennelliana differs further from G. autumnalis in its longer, more gradually flaring corolla tube; the division of the lateral veins of the corolla near the base, so that each petal has five primary veins rather than three as in G. autumnalis and the other Gentiana species in the flora area; and stamens 7–12 mm above their insertion on the corolla tube, as contrasted with 13–30 mm in G. autumnalis.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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