G E N T I A N A Amarella.
Autumnal Gentian.
P E N T A N D R I A Digynia.
G en. C har. Cor. c f one petal. Capfule fuperior, one-
celled, two-valved, with two longitudinal recepta-
. cles.
Spec. Char. , Corolla five cleft, falver-fbaped, bearded
in the orifice. Segments of the calyx equal.
S y n . Gentiana Amarella. Linn. Sp. PI. 334. HudJ,
FI. An. 103. With. Bot. Arr. 262. Relb. Cant.
to o . Sibth. Oxon. 83.
Gentianella fugax autumnalis elatior, Centaurii
minoris folio. Rail Syn. 275 ?
/3 G. fugax verna feu praecox. Raii Syn. 275.
F o u n d in graffy paftures above lime-ftone rocks, varying
in fize according to the degree of moifture, and flowering in
Auguft and September— The variety 0 flowers from April to
June.
Root annual, twifted, yellowifh. Stem fquare, erect:, bearing
feveral pair of feffile, ovate, 3-nerved, dark-green leaves,and
clothed from top to bottom with flowers, on fhort, axillary,
forked fide branches, one being terminal. Calyx pale, with
green ribs, and divided half way down into 5 lanceolate, nearly
equal, fegments. Tube of the corolla twice as long as the calyx;
limb in 5 fegments, rarely but 3 or 4, horizontal when the fun
fliines, the orifice crowned with a purple upright fringe, which
conceals the Itamina. Germen oblong; ftyles very fhort;
ftigmas divaricated. The whole herb is intenfely bitter, and
poffeffes the ftomachic virtues qf its congeners.
It is extremely difficult to alcertain the 3 Gentians mentioned
in Ray’s Synopfis, 275. Neither he, nor his editor Dillenius,
feems to have been aware of the real difference between G.
Amarella and campeftris, and their Synonyms are almoft all
quoted with hefitation. We can therefore only guefs, ft°ra
the flender materials before us, what they intended— As to the
Vernal dwarf Gentian, we quote it as a variety, having been
favoured with a fpecimen gathered by the late accurate Sir John
Cullum, on the heath between Grantham and Ancafter, in
flower June 6, 1774, which he therefore reafonably prefun®
was the above plant of Ray. But it differs in no refpect fro®
G. Amarella, except in time of flowering. As we are on the
ground of conjecture, may not fuch early-flowering fpecimenso
fome that happened to fpring up in the preceding autumn, a»
flood the winter ?