Description from
Flora of China
Gentiana acuta Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Amer. 1: 177. 1803; G. amarella Linnaeus var. fastigiata Ling.
Annuals 25-35 cm tall. Stems erect, subquadrangular, branched apically. Basal leaves withered at anthesis. Stem leaves sessile, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 1.5-3.5 cm × 3-10 mm, base obtuse to rounded, apex acute, veins abaxially 3-7. Inflorescences axillary and terminal, forming narrow panicles. Flowers 5 rarely 4merous. Pedicel slender, 2-8 mm, subquadrangular. Calyx 5-9 mm; lobes narrowly lanceolate, keeled, 4-7 mm, apex acuminate. Corolla blue, tubular, 8-11 × ca. 3 mm; lobes oblong-lanceolate, 3-4 × ca. 1.5 mm, base of each lobe bearing 6 or 7 unequal vascular fimbriae, apex acute. Nectaries 8 or 10. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments ca. 2 mm, decurrent basally into narrow wings of corolla tube; anthers blue, ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm. Style indistinct; stigma lobes suborbicular. Capsules sessile, narrowly ellipsoid, 5-7 mm. Seeds brown, globose, 0.6-0.8 mm in diam.; seed coat warty. Fl. and fr. Aug-Sep.
Hillsides, wet meadows; 0-1500 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [Mongolia, E Russia; North America].