Gentianella amarella

Last updated

Gentianella amarella
Gentiana amarella L ag1.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Gentianaceae
Genus: Gentianella
Species:
G. amarella
Binomial name
Gentianella amarella
Synonyms [1]
  • Eyrythalia pulchellaGray
  • Gentiana amarellaL.
  • Gentiana pulchellaSalisb.
  • Gentianella amarella subsp. euamarellaÁ.Löve & D.Löve
  • Gentianusa amarella(L.) Pohl
  • Opsantha amarella(L.) Delarbre

Gentianella amarella, the autumn gentian, autumn dwarf gentian, [2] or autumn felwort, [3] is a short biennial plant flowering plant in the gentian family, Gentianaceae. It is found throughout Northern Europe, the western and northern United States, and Canada. [2] [4] [5]

Contents

Description

Gentianella amarella the autumn gentian, autumn dwarf gentian, [2] or autumn felwort is a biennial herbaceous plant, which only produces a low leaf rosette with elliptical to lanceolate leaves in its first year. In the second year it usually grows a stem from 5 to 30 (3 to 50) centimeters long. The stem is straight or branched just above the base; at flowering time it is without leaves which distinguishes it from similar species.

Generative characteristics

The flowering period is from July to early October, and the axils produce numerous flowers.

The relatively small, hermaphrodite flowers are purplish bells (reddish-violet corolla) are trumpet-shaped between 12 and 22 mm long and have five petals with double perianth (calyx and corolla). The cup is much shorter than the crown tube. The five vestibules are upright and mostly somewhat unequal. The coronet is bearded. The ovary and the fruit are sedentary or rarely short-stalked.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 36.

Taxonomy and distribution

Gentianella amarella was first published in 1753 under the name (basionym) Gentiana amarella by Carl Linnaeus. The new combination to Gentianella amarella was published in 1912 by Carl Julius Bernhard Börner. The epithet amarella means somewhat bitter. [6]

There are about five subspecies of Gentianella amarella:[ citation needed ]

ImageSubspeciesDistribution
Gentianella amarella ssp. acuta kz01.jpg Gentianella amarella subsp. acuta(Michx.) J.M.Gillett (syn.: Comastoma acutum(Michx.) Y.Z.Zhao & X.Zhang, Gentiana acutaMichx., Gentianella acuta(Michx.) HiitonenIt is widespread in temperate Asia and North America, e.g. Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, the Chinese provinces Heilongjiang, Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi, Shandong, Shaanxi as well as Ningxia, the Eastern Russian territories of Magadan, Buryatia, Gorno-Altay, Tuva, Yakutia-Sakha, Krasnoyarsk, Chita and Irkutsk, the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territory, Yukon Territory, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and Nunavut, the US states Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California and the northern Mexican states of Durango and Nuevo León.
Gentianella amarella subsp. amarella (syn.: Gentiana livonicaEschsch. ex Griseb., Gentianella amarella subsp. hibernicaN.M.Pritch.It is located in North, South, Southeast, Central and Eastern Europe, in Caucasus and Central Asia, [Siberia] widespread. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Ciscaucasia, Kazakhstan, Magadan, Buryatia, Gorno-Altay, Tuva, Yakutia-Sakha, Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Karelia, Murmansk, Belarus, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, European parts of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ireland and United Kingdom.
Gentianella amarella subsp. lingulata(C.Agardh) Holub (syn.: Gentiana lingulataC.AgardhIt is found in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe.
Gentianella amarella subsp.reussii(Tocl) HolubIt occurs in Slovakia
Gentianella amarella.jpg Gentianella amarella subsp.septentrionalis(Druce) N.M.Pritch.It occurs in Great Britain and Iceland.

Ecology

Its habitat is in grass, often on lime-rich soil (in England typically on chalk). [4] It grows on dry, sandy or calcareous soils, but also on wet peat or marl soils and thus thrives in bog meadows. It is growing in the molinion association.

Related Research Articles

<i>Gentiana acaulis</i> Species of plant

Gentiana acaulis, the stemless gentian, or trumpet gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, native to central and southern Europe, from Spain east to the Balkans, growing especially in mountainous regions, such as the Alps and Pyrenees, at heights of 800–3,000 m (2,625–9,843 ft).

<i>Rubus caesius</i> Species of flowering plant

Rubus caesius is a Eurasian species of dewberry, known as the European dewberry. Like other dewberries, it is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, related to the blackberry and raspberry. It is widely distributed across much of Europe and Asia from Ireland and Portugal as far east as Xinjiang Province in western China. It has also become sparingly naturalized in scattered locations in Argentina, Canada, and the United States.

<i>Campanula rotundifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula rotundifolia, the common harebell, Scottish bluebell, or bluebell of Scotland, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. This herbaceous perennial is found throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. In Scotland, it is often known simply as bluebell. It is the floral emblem of Sweden where it is known as small bluebell. It produces its violet-blue, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn.

<i>Gentiana verna</i> Species of flowering plant in the gentian family Gentianaceae

Gentiana verna, the spring gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, and one of its smallest members, normally only growing to a height of a few centimetres.

<i>Gentiana andrewsii</i> Species of plant

Gentiana andrewsii, the bottle gentian, closed gentian, or closed bottle gentian, is an herbaceous species of flowering plant in the gentian family Gentianaceae. Gentiana andrewsii is native to northeastern North America, from the Dakotas to the East Coast and through eastern Canada.

<i>Gentianella</i> Genus of plants

Gentianella is a plant genus in the gentian family (Gentianaceae). Plants of this genus are known commonly as dwarf gentians.

<i>Gentiana calycosa</i> Species of plant

Gentiana calycosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae. It is a herbaceous perennial gentian known by the common names explorer's gentian, Rainier pleated gentian, and mountain bog gentian.

<i>Gentiana setigera</i> Species of plant

Gentiana setigera is a species of gentian known by the common name Mendocino gentian. It is native to southern Oregon and northern California where it grows in wet places in the California Coast Ranges. It grows in serpentine soils.

<i>Succisa pratensis</i> Species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae

Succisa pratensis, also known as devil's-bit or devil's-bit scabious, is a flowering plant in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. It differs from other similar species in that it has four-lobed flowers, whereas Scabiosa columbaria and Knautia arvensis have five lobes and hence it has been placed in a separate genus in the same family. It also grows on damper ground.

<i>Swertia perennis</i> Species of flowering plant

Swertia perennis is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common names felwort and star swertia. It is native to several regions of the northern hemisphere, including much of Eurasia and western North America. It is a plant of wetlands, particularly calcareous fens. It is common to abundant in many areas, but it is known to be negatively impacted by habitat fragmentation and other habitat destruction, and human activity has led to its extirpation from some areas where it was once common. It is a perennial herb producing usually one erect stem growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall. The basal leaves are spoon-shaped with rounded tips, and leaves higher on the plant are widely lance-shaped or somewhat oval, with pointed tips. The inflorescence is an open panicle of flowers atop the stem. Each flower has a calyx of four or five pointed sepals and a corolla of four or five pointed lobes each up to 1.3 centimeters long. The corolla is dull blue to violet in color with darker purplish veining or stippling. There are two rounded nectary pits at the base of each lobe of the corolla. Stamens tipped with large anthers surround a central ovary.

<i>Gentianella campestris</i> Species of plant

Gentianella campestris, common name field gentian, is a small herbaceous biennial flowering plant in the Gentianaceae native to Europe. Its bluish-purple flowers contain four petals.

<i>Gentiana sino-ornata</i> Species of plant

Gentiana sino-ornata, the showy Chinese gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, native to western China and Tibet. It is a low-growing semi-evergreen perennial growing to 5–7 cm (2–3 in) tall, with multiple prostrate stems 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long, bearing single trumpet-shaped flowers of a pure blue with a white- and green-striped throat, in autumn.

<i>Gentianella anglica</i> Species of flowering plant

Gentianella anglica, the early gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Gentianella, native to Great Britain. Gentianella anglica is endemic to Great Britain and its centre of distribution is in Dorset, Wiltshire, and the Isle of Wight.

<i>Gentiana pannonica</i> Species of plant

Gentiana pannonica, the Hungarian gentian or brown gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae.

<i>Gentianella cerina</i> Species of flowering plant

Gentianella cerina is a plant species in the Gentianaceae family, endemic to the Auckland Islands of New Zealand.

<i>Gentiana froelichii</i> Species of plant

Gentiana froelichii, commonly known as the Karawanken gentian, is an endemic hemicryptophyte and perennial plant species in the family Gentianaceae, which occurs in southeastern Alps. It can be found in Austria and Slovenia, with a few reported occurrences happening in Italy.

Gentiana wingecarribiensis is a flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a small, upright or decumbent annual herb with blue to mauve flowers.

Gentiana bredboensis commonly known as Bredbo gentian, is a flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a small annual herb with white flowers.

<i>Gentianella praecox</i> Species of plant

Gentianella praecox, the Bohemian gentian, is a flowering plant species belonging to the genus Gentianella in the family Gentianaceae. Its distribution is limited to the territory of the Bohemian Massif.

References

  1. "Gentiana amarella (L.) Börner". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
  2. 1 2 3 USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Gentianella amarella". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  3. "Lardon Chase" (PDF). Natural England. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-30. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  4. 1 2 Fitter, Richard; Fitter, Alastair; Blamey, Marjorie (1974). The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe. Collins. p. 182.
  5. Brouillet L, Desmet P, Coursol F, Meades SJ, Favreau M, Anions M, Bélisle P, Gendreau C, Shorthouse D, et al. (2010). "Gentianella amarella (Linnaeus) Börner". Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  6. "Dictionary of Botanical Epithets". botanicalepithets.net. 2019. Retrieved 2021-11-02.