Gentiana crinita

Gentiana crinita
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Gentianaceae
Genus:	Gentiana
Species:	G. crinita
Binomial name
Gentiana crinita

Gentiana crinita (sometimes called "Fringed Gentian" or "Blue Gentian") is a biennial herbaceous species. Fringed gentian flowers open on sunny days, but generally remain closed on cloudy days. Individual plants live for only one or two years.

In late September to early November, solitary, iridescent blue flowers develop on naked peduncles approximately 2 to 10 cm in height. Each finely fringed petal is 3.5 to 6 cm in length. The outermost flower parts are two pairs of green sepals, strongly winged and flared on the basal margins, the outer pair much larger than the inner.

G. crinita is found in Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Sources

• USDA Plants profile for Gentianopsis crinita, Greater Fringed Gentian
• Birds and Nature, Vol. VIII, No. 3, October, 1900 "The Blue Gentians"