Summer Flowers of the High Alps

Many species of Gentian are met with in the Alps. One of the best known of the smaller varieties is the Stemless Gentian or Gentianella, which is a frequent inhabitant of heaths, meadows and pastures all over the higher parts of Switzerland, and is also found in the Jura and Carpathians, being less common on limestone soil and more abundant on primary granitic rock. The plant grows at an altitude of 4000 to 8000 feet, and flowers in June, July, and August. Occasionally it descends much lower and may even be found below 1500 feet in a few special localities. Each plant consists of a small rosette of leaves, a very short stem, and a single bell-shaped flower of deep azure blue. Very often two or three plants are found growing together and a small group such as that photographed is not infrequent. Occasionally also specimens with pale blue, rose red or even white flowers may be seen. When the flower has been fertilised, and while the seeds are maturing, the brightly coloured corolla shrivels up and surrounds the seed vessel, at the same time becoming of a green colour and perhaps taking on a vegetative function. The leaves are rather leathery, narrow, and pointed.

It is often quite a difficult matter to distinguish between the Stemless Gentian, here illustrated, and the Carved Gentian (Gentiana excisa), not only because the two plants are so much alike but also because intermediate forms exist; indeed, it is open to question whether the two plants are really to be regarded as distinct species. In the Carved Gentian the calyx lobes become contracted just above their bases, to widen out again above, and the recesses between the lobes are more rounded and less pointed. The leaves also are broader, less leathery, and not nearly so sharp pointed as those of the so-called stemless variety. The flowers of the Marsh Gentian (Gentiana Pneumonanthe) are also not unlike those of the plant here photographed, but it should be readily distinguished because its leaves are much narrower and several flowers are borne by a single plant.