Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana villosa
downy gentian, prairie gentian
striped gentian, striped or pale or straw-color gentian
1–5(–20), terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
1–5, terminal from caudex, erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–7 cm × 4–18 mm, apex obtuse to acute.
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.
1–6-flowered dense cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes or on short branches.
± dense 1–10-flowered cymes, often with additional flowers at 1 or 2(–4) nodes or on branches.
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 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 puberulenta
Gentiana villosa
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 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.)
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