Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Gentiana andrewsii Griseb.
- Family: Gentian (Gentianaceae)
- Flowering: August-October
- Field Marks: This gentian differs from all others by its closed petals, its ciliate sepals, and by the fringed appendages between the petals that are broader than the petals.
- Habitat: Wet prairies, wet meadows.
- Habit: Perennial herb from a thickened rootstock.
- Stems: Upright, smooth, up to 2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Opposite, simple, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, pointed at the tip, tapering to the sessile base, without teeth, smooth, up to 6 inches long, the lowest leaves reduced to bracts.
- Flowers: 2-5 in a terminal cluster, sessile, subtended by a cluster of 4-6 leaves.
- Sepals: 5, green, united below to form a tube, the free parts from 1/8 to 3/8 inch long, ciliate, shorter than the tube.
- Petals: 5, blue, united to form a cylindrical tube, up to 1 3/4 inches long, the tips closed at the top and separated by a broad, fringed appendage broader than the petals.
- Stamens: 5, attached to the petals.
- Pistils: Ovary superior; stigmas 2.
- Fruits: Capsules ellipsoid, short-stalked, up to 1 inch long.
Previous Species -- Rough Bedstraw (Galium asprellum)
Return to Species List -- Group 7
Next Species -- Closed Gentian (Gentiana clausa)
