Gentiana setigera |
Gentiana saponaria |
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elegant gentian, Mendocino gentian |
harvestbells, moss gentian, soapwort gentian |
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Habit | Herbs perennial, 2–4.5 dm, glabrous. | Herbs perennial, 0.7–6.5 dm, usually glabrous, occasionally puberulent on stems only. |
Stems | 1–12, arising laterally below rosettes, decumbent. |
1–5, terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect. |
Leaves | basal and cauline; cauline leaves gradually more widely spaced distally; basal and rosette blades spatulate-obovate, 2.5–8.5 cm × 5–15 mm, apex obtuse; cauline blades elliptic, 1–3 cm × 5–17 mm, apex obtuse to acute. |
cauline, ± evenly spaced; blade linear to widely elliptic, 1.5–12 cm × 3–30 mm, apex obtuse to acute. |
Inflorescences | solitary flowers or 2–4-flowered heads. |
± dense 1–8-flowered cymes or heads, sometimes with additional cymules on short branches. |
Flowers | calyx 14–23 mm, lobes ovate-oblong, 5–8 mm, margins not ciliate; corolla deep blue, campanulate, open, 25–50 mm, lobes elliptic-obovate, 10–16 mm, free portions of plicae divided nearly to base into 2 or 3 long, threadlike segments; anthers distinct. |
calyx 9–32 mm, lobes spreading nearly horizontally when fresh, narrowly oblanceolate, 4–17 mm, shorter than or ± as long as tube, margins ciliate; corolla blue or rarely rose-violet, tubular, loosely closed to slightly or (in southernmost part of range) almost fully but narrowly open, 30–50 mm, lobes ovate-triangular, 3–7 mm, usually less than 2 mm longer than plicae, free portions of plicae divided 1/2 or more of their length into 2 subequal, erect, ± triangular, lacerate segments; anthers connate. |
Seeds | winged. |
winged. |
2n | = 26 (including plants identified as G. saponaria and G. cherokeensis). |
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Gentiana setigera |
Gentiana saponaria |
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Phenology | Flowering late summer–fall. | Flowering late summer–fall. |
Habitat | Bogs and wet mountain meadows. | Mesic to moist open woods, savannas, swamps, fens, roadsides. |
Elevation | 300–1100 m. (1000–3600 ft.) | 0–900(–1200) m. (0–3000(–3900) ft.) |
Distribution |
CA; OR
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AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MI; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA; WV
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Discussion | Gentiana setigera is endemic to Gasquet Mountain, Del Norte County, and Red Mountain, Mendocino County, California, and a small area in Josephine County, Oregon. At the Oregon site, it has been called G. bisetaea or Waldo gentian. Reports from other sites have been based on G. plurisetosa, with which G. setigera has often been confused. K. L. Chambers and J. Greenleaf (1989) and C. T. Mason (1991) distinguished Gentiana plurisetosa from G. setigera, clarified the nomenclature of G. setigera, and included G. bisetaea in G. setigera. Prior to those studies, all components of this complex had been of conservation concern. With G. plurisetosa comprising only a part of this complex, and with G. setigera now being more narrowly circumscribed, conservation concern remains appropriate for both of these species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Gentiana saponaria is believed to be extirpated from the District of Columbia. Reports from west of the range given here have been based mostly on specimens of G. andrewsii × G. puberulenta, occasionally on G. flavida × G. puberulenta or other hybrids. Some reports from the northeastern United States, including all records from Vermont and upstate New York, were based on specimens of G. clausa that antedate the recognition of that species in standard floras. Other reports have been based on misidentified G. linearis. The name Gentiana puberula Michaux is typified by a specimen of G. saponaria but has generally been misapplied to G. puberulenta. Plants from the northern parts of the range of Gentiana saponaria tend to have corollas more nearly closed than those from the southern parts of the range, but their corollas are not so firmly closed as those of G. clausa, the corolla lobes are larger, the summits of the plicae are usually more or less visible in herbarium specimens, and the shape of the calyx lobes is distinctively different. Plants of G. saponaria in the southernmost part of its range tend to have somewhat larger and more open corollas, approaching G. catesbaei in these respects, but they differ in their elliptic rather than ovate leaves and calyx lobes mostly shorter than or about as long as the tube rather than longer. Plants from bog and lake-shore habitats in Watauga County, North Carolina, at 1200 m, above the usual altitudinal range of G. saponaria, have attracted interest because of their linear to narrowly elliptic leaves mostly 3–9 mm wide. Their calyx and corolla morphology strongly supports their inclusion in G. saponaria, as does the occurrence of occasional plants with wider leaves in the same populations. Plants with similarly narrow leaves occur elsewhere in the range of G. saponaria and include those that have been identified as G. cherokeensis. The epithet saponaria refers to a resemblance of the stems and leaves of this species to those of soapwort or bouncing-bet, Saponaria officinalis (Caryophyllaceae). Soaplike substances were not obtained from the gentian, so the invention of “soap gentian” as a common name is not appropriate. Gentiana saponaria hybridizes with G. andrewsii relatively frequently in the Ohio Valley and occasionally elsewhere. Hybrids with G. catesbaei, G. clausa, G. decora, and G. puberulenta are also known. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. |
Parent taxa | Gentianaceae > Gentiana | Gentianaceae > Gentiana |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | G. bisetaea | Dasystephana latifolia, D. saponaria, G. cherokeensis, G. elliottii var. latifolia |
Name authority | A. Gray: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 11: 84. (1876) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 228. (1753) |
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