Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
Gentiana L. -- Gentian
Perennials with thick, fibrous roots. Flowers large, lavender to bluish-purple, usually greenish or yellowish-green and blue on the outside, clustered in the upper part of the plant, appearing axillary, each subtended by a pair of small bractlike leaves, 5-merous; calyx obconic to funnelform, the lobes unequal; corolla tubular to obconic, shallowly lobed, plicate between the lobes, the plicate membrane erose to toothed or lacerate at the summit, less than to slightly exceeding the lobes; stamens 5, the anthers sometimes fused around the ovary. Seeds flattened and winged with a pale margin.
| Lead | Characteristic | Go To |
| 1 | Corolla lobes distinct, 2.5-6 mm long, the plicate membrane between the lobes toothed at the summit; stems puberulent on the decurrent leaf bases. | G. affinis |
| 1 | Corolla lobes low and indistinct, continuous with the erose plicate membrane; stems glabrous. | G. andrewsii |
Return to Family -- Gentianaceae - The Gentian Family
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