Parry's Gentian Gentiana parryi Gentian family (Gentianaceae)
Parry's Gentian is often found scattered in where it pokes out of grasses with its brilliant blue/purple flowers. The five petals are separated by unusual, slightly projections. Plants range from a few inches tall on to sixteen inches tall on richer soils in . Flower petals may be rounded or pointed. Sunshine opens the tightly closed flower wide and deep, giving it a second common name, "Bottle Gentian." See the similar species: Rocky Mountain Gentian (Gentiana affinis). Nineteenth century botanist Charles Parry made the first collection of this plant in Colorado in 1862 and George Engelmann named the plant Gentiana parryi in 1863. Parry is honored in the names of dozens of plants.
plants with stems usually 9" tall but to 16", often numerous from a thick root. Leaves smooth, well-spaced, somewhat , , , or near . Flowers 1-6 in cluster subtended by 2 or 3 leaf-like which often are large enough to conceal the which is up to 1" long with about 1/2 as long as the tube. to 1.5" long, blue to purple, banded with green outside, relatively bell-shaped but upright, about 1/5" long with one short pointed between each main . a with a .
corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.
capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In
most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.
A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.
lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).
subalpine -- Just below the timberline.
linear -- Long and very narrow like a blade of grass.
ovate -- Oval, egg-shaped, with a tapering point.
Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.
tundra -- Land above tree line characterized by a short growing season, intense sun
and wind, thin soils, very high snow fall and high rain fall. Contains low
growing sedges, grasses, dwarf shrubs and herbs.
terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).
glaucous -- Pale gray or bluish-green. It can mean covered with a greyish,
bluish or whitish coating.
Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.
fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants.
It is formed from the ovary after flowering.
lobe -- Being divided by clefts.
A stipe is a small stalk that supports some other structure.
In ferns, the stalk of a frond; generally a small stalk.
calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses
the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.
alpine -- above the tree line. Thin soil, rocks, short growing season, frost, winter snow.
lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.
meadow -- Large grass and wildflower filled area with few, if any, trees.
