Island gentian, gentiane des îles

Gentiana nesophila Holm, Ottawa Naturalist 15: 111. 1901; Gentianella detonsa (Rottbøll) G. Don subsp. nesophila (Holm) J. M. Gillett; Gentianopsis nesophila (Holm) H. H. Iltis

Herbs 0.2–2.5 dm. Stems except those of smallest plants with branches or peduncles arising from base. Leaf blades: basal and at least proximal cauline obovate to spatulate or oblanceolate, distal cauline (if present) sometimes elliptic to lanceolate, apices of all rounded to obtuse. Flowers: calyx lobes all similar in shape and length, ovate to lance-ovate, all with apex acute or outer short-acuminate; corolla 12–50 mm, lobes oblong-orbiculate, to 0.5 times as long as tube, margins dentate or erose, not fringed, apex rounded; ovary subsessile or gynophore stout, to 5 mm at anthesis. Seed coat completely papillate.

Flowering summer–early fall. Coastal marshes, gravelly beaches, saline habitats; 0–20 m; Nfld. and Labr. (Nfld.), Nunavut, Ont., Que.

Subspecies nesophila occurs only along the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and Hudson and James bays. Records for Nunavut are from islands in James Bay only.

Subspecies nesophila generally has more pairs of leaves in proportion to plant height than the other subspecies of Gentianopsis detonsa, and spatulate to oblanceolate leaves prevail at more nodes above the basal rosettes. The basal leaves, which are generally numerous, tend to be both absolutely and proportionately wider than those of the other subspecies of G. detonsa and all subspecies of G. virgata. In contrast to those of all other Gentianopsis taxa in the flora area, the corolla lobes of subsp. nesophila are less than half as long as the tube. Occasional plants of subsp. nesophila, especially on the western shores of Hudson and James bays, approach subsp. raupii in some aspects of their morphology and vice versa. The papillae of the seed coats of subsp. nesophila are mostly smaller than those of the other subspecies of G. detonsa.

Where both taxa are present on the southwestern shore of James Bay, subsp. nesophila grows in supratidal meadow-marshes, whereas Gentianopsis virgata subsp. macounii is found at slightly higher elevations, on low raised beach ridges (J. L. Riley and S. M. McKay 1980).