Dune gentian  (Gentianella uliginosa)

Learn about the scientific name of this species and how it fits into the tree of life at Nature Navigator.

Description

Dune gentian is a diminutive plant, which is capable of flowering when it is just 5 mm tall (2), but more usually grows to 15 cm. It has a basal rosette of leaves, as well as 1 or 2 pairs of leaves on the stem, or sometimes no stem leaves at all (4). Much of the plant's height comes from its distinctively elongated flower stalk and its sepals are also characteristically splayed outwards from the flower tube. Dune gentians closely resemble a dwarfed form of autumn gentian, Gentianella amarella, however, and intermediates - probably hybrids - between the two occur in mixed populations (2). The gentians are named after Gentius, the pirate king of Illyria who was defeated by the Romans, and who, as legend has it, first discovered that gentians have medicinal properties (5).

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