Monday, September 14, 2009

Fringed Gentian

Jim Davidson and I visited a few fens near Springville, OH on Labor Day weekend. One we had to work to find, but was rewarded with a gorgeous stand of Fringed Gentian, Gentianopsis procera.
We got a tip they were just starting to bloom. Jim found the first one and called me over.


Finally, we stumbled upon this beauty. It was fully open and a brilliant Pepsi-can blue. A blue you rarely see in nature. Here is a side view.

And here is a top view. You can see the fringes on the petals, where it gets its name. A flower that was well worth the two hours of searching for the fen.

7 comments:

  1. Springville Marsh near Carey, Ohio is another great northern location for this beauty. Thanks for the photos- Cheryl

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  2. Hi Janet. Were you able to rule out Gentianopsis procera when you saw this plant? In your photos, it looks more like G. procera, but I couldn't say for sure without the plant in hand. G. procera is a characteristic fen species.

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  3. We have the Fringed Gentian here in CO - mostly on the high alpine environment. I saw fringed, star, and bottle Gentians on a hike a couple weeks ago. It's always a treat to see them, though the saying is that when they appear, winter is just around the corner.

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  4. You are right, Scott! I looked at them on USDA Plants and just assumed it was Gentianposis crinita. Jim McCormac confirmed that it was most likely Gentianopsis procera from what part of the state it was located and that it was in a fen. Thanks for the heads up!

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  5. Lovely flower. I've never seen one in Michigan, where I'm from, but two are listed in Harry Lund's Michigan Wildflowers book (Gentiana crinita and Gentiana andrewsii).

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  6. Howdee Janet..
    beautiful flower.
    Nice catching up with you and your blog..
    this gal has been without internet for much of our travels in the midwest..
    but now that we are in Oregon..I have internet..Yippee..
    will catch up with your blog now...
    see ya..

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