Eastern fringed gentian, gentiane frangée

Gentiana crinita Froelich, Gentiana, 112. 1796; Anthopogon crinitus (Froelich) Rafinesque; Gentianella crinita (Froelich) Berchtold & J. Presl

Herbs annual or biennial, (0.3–)1–6(–10) dm. Stems except those of smallest plants with branches or peduncles arising from nodes distinctly above base, rarely from base. Leaves: basal often withered by flowering, blades spatu­late to oblanceolate, 0.8–4 cm × 1–11 mm, apex rounded to acute; cauline blades (narrowly to) widely lanceo­late to widely ovate, 1–8 cm × (4–)7–25 mm, apex acute. Peduncles 1–15(–20) cm. Flowers 1–many; calyx 14–40(–50) mm, keels slightly papillate-scabridulous prox­imally, all or at least inner lobes less than 1.5 times as long as tube, outer lobes lanceolate, apices acuminate to attenuate, inner lobes lance-ovate to ovate, apices acute to acuminate; corolla deep blue or rarely rose-violet or white, 25–60(–75) mm, lobes elliptic-obovate, 10–25 × 5–15 mm, margins with fringes to 6 mm laterally and around apex, apex rounded; ovary distinctly stipitate. Seeds papillate, not winged. 2n = 78.

Flowering late summer–fall. Wet meadows, prairies, savannas, alvars, stream banks, roadsides, other moist, open sites, usually in ± calcareous soils; 0–1400 m; Man., Ont., Que.; Conn., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., N.Dak., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Vt., Wis., restricted to higher elevations southward.

There are historical records of Gentianopsis crinita from Delaware, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Reports from states and provinces west of the range given here were based on misidentifications or on cir­cumscriptions of the species that included G. virgata.

Occasional plants or populations of Gentianopsis crinita approach G. virgata subsp. virgata in leaf shape and, perhaps less often, plants or populations of G. virgata approach G. crinita in this respect. Although in most populations, such plants represent variation within the respective species, as indicated by corolla morphology, hybridization evidently does occur, notably in disturbed sites in northern Ohio.