A rare plant of habitats similar to those of the preceding [Gentiana crinita]. Our southernmost plant was collected in a springy place along White River near Anderson by Ray Dawson. When the two species (Gentiana crinita and this species) grow together this species is found in wetter situations.

Annual or biennial herb 10 - 50 cm tall

Stem: single, hairless, usually branching in the inflorescence.

Leaves: opposite, stalkless, non-toothed, under 1 cm wide, much longer than wide, and tapering to a pointed tip.

Flowers: blue-violet, 2 - 5.5 cm long, radially symmetric, bell-shaped, or funnel-shaped, usually with somewhat erect lobes. The one to twenty-four flowers are situated on long stalks at the top of branches.

Sepals: four, but fused for about 1.5 - 3 cm, then separating into long, pointed lobes with a rough, bumpy ridge (keel) running lengthwise down the outer surface. The sepal lobes are of two alternating lengths, with two short and two tall.

Petals: four, but fused for up to half their length, then separating into ascending-spreading lobes with jagged-toothed tops, and fringes down the sides. The petal tube has nectar glands attached along the inside near the base.

Stamens: four, attached to the inside of the petal tube, each alternating with a nectar gland.

Pistil: with a more or less stalkless, single-chambered, superior ovary; a very short style; and two large stigmas.

Fruit: a stalkless, single-chambered, two-valved, elliptic capsule containing numerous seeds.

Seeds: numerous, covered with short, blunt, round projections.

Similar species: Gentianopsis procera is very similar to G. crinita, but that species is larger, with larger flowers; the leaves are usually wider (over 1 cm wide); the sepals are fused for about 2.5 - 4 cm, and are smooth along the outside; the petals are more spreading, and fringed along both the sides and top; and the ovary and capsule are stalked.

Flowering: late August to late October

Habitat and ecology: Typically in calcareous fens, but also along borders of swales, sand flats, swamps, or bogs. Some collections have been made in drier ground (prairie borders or even roadsides), but typically this is a plant of wet, especially calcareous or sandy soils.

Occurence in the Chicago region: native

Etymology: Gentianopsis means "resembling the genus Gentiana" (which is named after Gentius, king of Illyria, who supposedly discovered a medicinal value for the yellow gentian). Procera means tall, which is contradictory since this is the smaller of our two fringed gentians.

Author: The Field Museum