Sabatia gentianoides
Sabatia formosa
pinewoods rose-gentian, spider rose-gentian
Buckley's sabatia, stately rose gentian
single, terete or slightly 4-ridged but not angled or winged, 1.5–5(–6.5) dm, branching opposite or alternate.
4-angled, sometimes with wings to 0.2 mm wide, 0.6–3 dm, branching all or mostly alternate.
cauline and often also basal present at flowering time;
basal blades widely oblong-spatulate;
cauline blades abruptly differentiated, linear, 1–10 cm × 1–3 mm.
basal and cauline present at flowering time;
blade lanceolate to ovate, that is, widest proximal to middle, 0.8–2.5 cm × 3–13 mm.
flowers solitary or in dense, few-flowered clusters, sessile.
open cymes;
pedicels 20–70 mm.
7–12-merous;
calyx tube widely campanulate, 3–8 mm, not ridged, lobes setaceous, 3–17 mm;
corolla pink, eye greenish yellow, projections of eye into corolla tube oblong, without a border, tube 6–10 mm, lobes oblanceolate to narrowly spatulate-obovate, 12–30 × 4–11 mm, apex rounded to obtuse;
anthers slightly twisting helically, not coiling circinately.
5-merous;
calyx tube campanulate, 2–8 mm, commissural veins more prominent than midveins, strongly ridged, lobes linear, (4–)8–22 mm;
corolla purplish pink, eye greenish yellow, projections of eye into corolla lobes with a red border alternating with shorter white or paler yellow zones, tube 3–8 mm, lobes elliptic-rhombic, that is, widest near middle, 9–20 × 4–19 mm, apex ± acute;
anthers coiling circinately.
= 28.
Sabatia gentianoides
Sabatia formosa
The name spider rose-gentian is derived from the appearance of the involucre subtending each solitary flower or cluster of a few flowers, which comprises two to four or more closely spaced pairs of narrowly linear leaves.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Sabatia formosa closely resembles S. campestris, within which it often has been included. By its earlier flowering, however, S. formosa is to some degree reproductively isolated from S. campestris where the two species are sympatric. N. B. Bell and L. J. Lester (1980) provided molecular as well as morphological evidence supporting the recognition of S. formosa as a species, and further morphological support has been found in studies for this flora. In S. formosa, the largest leaves are generally at and near the base of the stem, with the basal rosette usually persisting at flowering time. In S. campestris, the proximal leaves are generally smaller than those at mid stem, and the basal rosette is absent. The corollas of S. formosa are more deeply pigmented than those of S. campestris. The corolla lobes of S. formosa tend to be elliptic-rhombic, widest near the middle, whereas those of S. campestris are obovate, widest distally.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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