Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Rocky Mountain Fringed Gentian
Gentianopsis thermalis
Gentian family (Gentianaceae)

Fringed Gentian's flowers untwist and unfold to greet the sun. The Gentianopsis is distinguished fromGentiana by the absence of pleats between the (see Arctic Gentian for comparison). The species name "thermalis" references the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park where the plant can be found in abundance. Another Gentian, Gentianopsis barbellata, is also commonly called "Fringed Gentian." It is distinguished from G. thermalis by its much smaller size, drier habitat, shorter (the flower stem), below the , and petals broadest at the bottom. (Petals of G. thermalis are broadest at the tip.) "Gentianopsis" and "thermalis" are of Greek derivation: "having the appearance of a Gentian" and "of warmth."


©2004 Al Schneider

Description

Showy or , 4-12" tall, with blue flowers arising from multiple clumped stems. Deep blue-purple flowers are tubular opening into 4 fringed along the upper rounded edge. Flowers on long leafless stalks. numerous, to . Stem , to .

Field Marks

Deep blue pleated and fringed vase-like flowers.

© Al Schneider

An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seed, within one year, and then dies.

A peduncle is a common stalk of a cluster of flowers.

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

In an opposite leaf arrangement the leaves come in pairs with one leaf on each side of a stem.

Bracts are modified leaves associated with a flower.

spatulate -- spoon-shaped.

biennial -- a plant which lives for two years, producing a basal rosette of leaves the first year and a full plant, flower, and seed the second year followed by the death of the entire plant at the end of the second year.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.

oblong -- Having an elongated form with somewhat parallel sides. Rectangular.