Herbs 1.5–5(–7) dm. Peduncles 2–20 cm. Flowers often 1–many; calyx 15–45(–60) mm, keels usually strongly papillate-scabridulous, rarely obscurely scabridulous or smooth; corolla deep blue or rarely pale blue, rose-violet, white, or pale yellow, 20–60(–75) mm, lobes orbiculate-obovate, 20–30 × 9–18 mm, margins proximally with fringes 2–6 mm, distally dentate; ovary subsessile to dis­tinctly slender-stipitate. 2n = 78.

Phenology: Flowering late summer–fall.
Habitat: Fens, interdunal depres­sions, alvars, wet prairies, moist ditches, calcareous soils.
Elevation: 200–400 m.

Distribution

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• Legacy Map

Man., Ont., Sask., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Mich., Minn., N.Y., N.Dak., Ohio, Wis.

Discussion

Subspecies virgata is believed to be extirpated from Pennsylvania. Reports of this taxon, under various names, as occurring northwest to the Yukon Territory and Alaska have been based on misidentified specimens or on unusually inclusive circumscriptions of the species.

Most representatives of Gentianopsis virgata from Saskatchewan can be assigned to subsp. macounii, but occasional plants exhibit the relatively long lateral corolla-lobe fringes and prominently papillate calyx keels of subsp. virgata. In Saskatchewan populations, such plants usually occur with intermediates. Specimens of subsp. virgata from Minnesota generally approach subsp. macounii.

The common names smaller fringed gentian and lesser fringed gentian, often given for this taxon, are misleading, as the range of variation in plant and flower size is similar in subsp. virgata and Gentianopsis crinita. In both taxa, flower size is more or less correlated with plant height, but plants of subsp. virgata tend to have fewer but larger flowers than plants of G. crinita of similar stature.

Subspecies virgata appears to be the most variable in corolla color of the Gentianopsis taxa in the flora area. Although the great majority of plants have blue corollas, white or rose-violet corollas occur in some localities; plants with pale yellow corollas have been reported in Wisconsin; and a bicolored form has been found in Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, Michigan, in which the corolla tube and the proximal part of the lobes are white except for a central blue stripe.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.