Striped Gentian

(Gentiana villosa)

 

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of William S. Justice, Smithsonian Institution

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Striped Gentian (Gentiana villosa)

Identification: Flowers green-white to green-purple, with darker and lighter stripes. Petals fused to a membrane, open only at the flower apex, with acute petal lobes. Flowers in a terminal cluster and with isolated flowers arising from the leaf axils. Leaves dark green, shiny, in opposite pairs, broadest near the apex, and tapering toward the base. Plant 0.5 to 2 feet in height.

Distribution: Southern Indiana in the west to New Jersey in the east, southward to Florida and Louisiana.

Habitat: Striped Gentian is found in pine barrens and open woods.

Flowering period: September to October.

Striped Gentian (Gentiana villosa)

Similar Species:

The combination of the closed, greenish flowers and the dark green, shiny leaves will usually identify this species.

Similar Species

No Similar Species