Gentiana autumnalis
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Photo, Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Gentiana autumnalis |
| Common name: | Pine barrens gentian |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Gentianaceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | 2-6 decimeters |
| Foliage: | Leaves are thin, linear and elongated, 7-15 pairs. |
| Flower: | Solitary flower, on occasion up to 2 or 3, at the tops of the stems, with five petals, fused for one-half of their length. The flowers grow upright, opening in the sun. Striking shade of deep indigo-blue petals; the throat has white-greenish stripes and spots. |
| Flowering time: | September to October |
| Habitat: | USDA lists as Facultative wetlands species: Usually occurs in wetlands (estimated probability 67%-99%), but occasionally found in non-wetlands. |
| Range in New Jersey: | damp Pine barrens and its borders |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | S3. PL |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | It
was discovered by William
Bartram, who sent a drawing of it to Edwards, a British naturalist, who
published it in his Gleanings of Natural History as the "Autumnal
Perennial Gentian of the Desert", but it was not properly named until
1971, and then from the Pine Barrens of South Carolina. On very rare occasion this plant may be found with white corolla or white in green (albescens) or white and blue (albocaerulea) or purple or lilac (Porphyrio). |