6. Gentiana newberryi A. Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts. 11: 84. 1876.
[E]
Newberry’s or alpine gentian
Herbs perennial, 0.1–1.5(–3.5) dm (below flowers), glabrous. Stems 1–5, arising laterally below rosettes, from a stout tap root, tufted, decumbent. Leaves basal and cauline; blades of basal rosette and proximal cauline leaf blades widely spatulate to obovate or oblanceolate, 0.8–5 cm × 2–25 mm, apex obtuse or mucronate, at least these leaves with blades less than 6 times as long as wide, distal cauline leaves few, with blades oblanceolate to lanceolate or linear, 2–5 cm × 2–5 mm, apices acute. Inflorescences terminal, flowers usually solitary, occasionally 2 or 3. Flowers: calyx 14–30 mm, lobes linear to narrowly ovate, (4–)6–12 mm, margins not ciliate; corolla white or blue, campanulate, open, 23–55 mm, lobes spreading, elliptic-obovate, 7–17 mm, free portions of plicae divided into 2 triangular, serrate to lacerate segments; anthers distinct. Seeds winged.
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora): w United States.
The two varieties of Gentiana newberryi intergrade extensively. The most distinctive form of var. newberryi, with relatively tall stems and medium to deep blue corollas, occurs in the northern part of the range of the species, from the Klamath and White mountains of California north into Oregon. Plants most clearly referable to var. tiogana prevail in the southern part of the range of the species, from Butte County south to Inyo and Tulare counties, California. In the central part of the range of the species, plant size and corolla color are less consistently correlated, with occasional plants combining low stature with deep blue corollas or tall stems with predominantly white or pale blue corollas. In that part of the range, corolla color may be highly variable within a single population.
The leaves of Gentiana newberryi are thick-textured and distinctively concave, usually spoon-shaped, when fresh. Narrower leaves sometimes occur in var. tiogana, but many plants of that variety have widely spatulate leaves like those of var. newberryi.
