Gentiana saponaria
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Photo, Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Gentiana saponaria |
| Common name: | harvestbells; soapwort gentians |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Gentanaceae |
| Growth type: | forb/herb |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | 8 - 30" |
| Foliage: | linear or elliptic, 2-4", leaves opposite |
| Flower: | blue; flowers clustered, stalkless; 1/2", lobes fused with pleats below forming a tube or often flaring above; sepal-lobes narrowly oval (Clemants & Gracie, p. 4) |
| Flowering time: | late September - October |
| Habitat: | wet woods, swamps |
| Range in New Jersey: | statewide |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | Gentiana is named after Gentius, king of Illyria, who, according to legend, discovered a medicinal value for the yellow gentian.
Saponaria - resemblance of the leaves to the common soapwort, which is in the genus Saponaria. |