v [ 493 ] ..
G E N T I A N A verna.
Spring Gentian.
P E N T A N D R I A Digynia.
G en. C har. Cor. of one petal. Capfule fuperior,
one-celled, two-valved, with 2 longitudinal receptacles.
Spec. Char. Corolla five-cleft, falver-fhaped, crenate;
fegments toothed at their bafe. .Leaves cluftered,
ovate.
Sy n . Gentiana'verna. Linn.Sp. PI. 331.
G. n. 644.. Hall. Hiß. V. 1. 286. Davall.
Gentianella alpina verna. Ger. em. 436. f . 2. How.
Phytolog. 46. Merr. Pin. 45.
T h . s very elegant plant was gathered, in April 1797, in
Teefdale foreft, Durham, by Mr. John Sinks, and fent us
by the Rev. Mr. Harriman, the firft botanift who has ascertained
it in England, though the inhabitants of the foreft
know it well by the name o f Spring Violet, as it copi-
oufly enamels that country at a time when no other flower
enlivens the dreary fcene. Dr. How in his Phytologia, printed
in 1650, mentions this Gentian as having been found abundantly
in the mountains betwixt Gort and Galloway, Ireland,
by Mr. Heaton; yet Ray has only reckoned it among the
doubtful natives of thefe kingdoms. We have been favoured
with fine recent fpecimens by the Hon. Mrs. Barrington. Mr.
Oliver of Middleton has communicated a number of dried
ones, which have been carefully compared with the Linnsean
Herbarium, and prove this the real G. verna; though it is by
no means clear that G. Bavarica, differing only in having a
taller Item, and fpatulate blunt leaves, is a diftimft fpecies, for
fome of Mr. Oliver’s fpecimens have very blunt though ftill
ovate leaves. Linnaeus did not well underftand the fpecies of
Gentiana, Anemone, and fome others of Alpine growth.
The root of G. verna is perennial, thread-fhaped, and creeping.
Stems about an inch high, fimple, fingle-flowered, thickly
clothed with leaves which are more efpecially cluftered in the
lower part, and are of an ovate form, entire, generally pointed.
Flower folitary, terminal, ere£f, large. Calyx with 5 waved
carinated angles, and 5 equal fharp teeth. Corolla with a
plaited cylindrical tube, twice as long as the calyx, and a flat
limb in 5 equal obovate crenated lobes, of a moft vivid blue,
with a tooth on each fide at their bafe. Stamina fhorter than
the tube. Germen cylindrical. Style really fimple, with a
flat, feathery, 2-lobed ftigma. The whole herb is fmooth,
lefs bitter than moft Gentians. Sometimes the flowers are of
a paler blue.