Gentianopsis crinita

Native

Moist. Wet meadows, low woods, streambanks.

August to October

Bright blue

12″ to 32″

This is a 12″ to 32″ tall, erect, annual or biennial forb that rises on a single stem from a taproot.

The stems are erect, hairless, leafy, and often branched above the middle.

The leaves are opposite, lance egg-shaped to lance-shaped, stalkless, 1¼″ to 2⅜″ long, and ⅜″ to ¾″ wide. They taper to a point at the tip and are rounded or slightly heart-shaped at the base. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless. The margins are untoothed.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower on a 2″ to 8″ long stalk at the end of the stem and each of the branches.

The flowers are narrowly bell-shaped, erect, 1¼″ to 2¼″ high, and and 1½″ to 2″ wide. There are 4 light green sepals fused together from the base to about half of their length into a ¾″ to 1½″ long tube, then separated into 2 long and 2 short lobes. The lobes are erect, pointed, and hairless or nearly hairless. There are 4 bright blue petals fused from the base for three-quarters of their length into a tube then separated at the tip into 4 widely spreading lobes. There are no pleats between the petals. The lobes are egg-shaped, rounded, and deeply fringed around their entire margin except near the base. The flowers open on sunny days and remain closed on cloudy days.

The fruit is a spindle-shaped, 1-chambered capsule containing many seeds.

Lesser fringed gentian (Gentianopsis virgata ssp. virgata) is a smaller plant, no more than 20″ tall. The leaves are linear. The petal margins are shallowly fringed near the throat and are toothed toward the tip.