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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE GENTIAN FAMILY | |||||||||
| The gentians are found in many parts of the world, but are especially common in temperate to subtropical regions. All of the plants in this family are herbs. They have an association with fungi in the soil that helps the plant to obtain nutrients. The leaves are always opposite and without a leaf stalk. The flowers may be at the ends of the plants or in the upper leaf axils. The flowers may be small and greenish or large and purplish or white in colour. The petals often have hairs, scales or nectaries at the base or within the petal tube. The stamens are attached on the petals in most genera. The fruit is a capsule. | |||||||||
| CLOSED BLUE GENTIAN | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Gentiana andrewsii var. dakotica | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Closed blue gentian grows up to 70 cm tall from a stout rootstock. These perennial stems have hairless to slightly hairy stems and leaves. The leaves are opposite. The lower leaves are usually small and scale-like, but the upper leaves can be up to 8.5 cm long. The flowers are in heads at the ends of the plant or in the axils of the upper nodes. The flowers have five sepals, petals, and stamens. The sepals form a tube with spreading lobes. The petals are also tubular and have fringed pleats between the petal lobes. The stamens are joined to the petals and the anthers come together but are not fused. The fruit is a capsule which releases flattened, wing-margined seeds. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Closed blue gentian grows in meadows and moist prairies. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This species is found in southeastern Saskatchewan in Aspen Parkland ecoregion. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Closed blue gentian is endangered in Saskatchewan because it is extremely rare and is restricted to a small region of the province. These plants are almost always locally sparse. Possible threats have been identified for this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY CLOSED BLUE GENTIAN | |||||||||
| * Are flowers in heads at the top of the plant? * Are flowers purple? * Are the petals pleated between the lobes? * Did you find it in southeastern Saskatchewan? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found closed blue gentian! | |||||||||
