Thursday 23 May
Early gentian (Gentianella anglica)
DATADEFICIENT
What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.Early gentian fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Early gentian description
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Phylum | Anthophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Gentianales |
| Family | Gentianaceae |
| Genus | Gentianella |
This attractive plant has the typical 'trumpet-shaped' flowers characteristic of its family, which are purple with fine white hairs on the inside of the bell, and up to 16 mm long. The leaves are narrow and spear-shaped, and grow from the main stem with no stalks of their own. This particular subspecies is often branched at the base.
- Size
- Stem length: 4 - 20cm
More »
Top
Related species
Early gentian biology
Early gentian flowers during May and June, but can appear as early as April and persist as late as July.
TopEarly gentian range
Early gentian is endemic to the UK, and during the period between 1987 and 1999, it was recorded on 69 10km squares. The centre of distribution is around Wiltshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. There is one subspecies, which is declining in central England and the Midlands, and has not been seen at one site in north Devon since 1995, although it could still re-appear.
More »
Top
Species with a similar range
Early gentian habitat
This species is found on grazed chalk grassland, but a similar species G. uliginosa is found in the depressions, known as slacks, behind coastal sand dunes. Early gentian was also recorded from dunes on the north Devon coast, but is now believed to be extinct there.
More »
Top
Species found in a similar habitat
Early gentian status
Classified as Nationally scarce in the UK, and protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, as amended 2002.
Early gentian threats
The loss of much of England's chalk grassland and changes in grazing practices for this habitat has seriously reduced the populations of early gentian.
TopEarly gentian conservation
Early gentian is listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP), and included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. There is some doubt as to whether this plant is genetically different to G. uliginosa and another closely related species G. amarella. The latest indications are that G. anglica is the same species as G. uliginosa and, therefore, all three taxa - G. anglica, G. uliginosa and G. amarella - may be considered as one species. However, further analysis is required before this can be proved conclusively but, in the meantime, suitable habitat management advice is being provided to managers of sites where early gentian occurs. This includes setting careful grazing densities between April and October, to aim for an average sward height of about three centimetres, and bare soil amounting to 5% of the total area.
TopAuthentication
Information supplied by English Nature.
http://www.english-nature.org.uk
Glossary
- Endemic
- A species or taxonomic group that is only found in one particular country or geographic area.
- Subspecies
- A different race of a species, which is geographically separated from other populations of that species.
References
More »Related species
Sign up to our newsletter
Get the latest wild news direct to your inbox.
Get involved
ARKive relies on its media donors to donate photos and videos. Can you help? There are plenty of other ways you can get involved too!
Wednesday 22 May
In the News: Nature health check finds UK wildlife to be in trouble
Tuesday 21 May
In the News: First crane egg in the western UK in four centuries
X
Close
Close
Image credit
Early gentian in flower, closed
© Stephen Davis
Stephen Davis
2 Stanley Terrace
Devizes
Wiltshire
SN10 5AJ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1380 728 990
davis.stephen1@googlemail.com
X
Close
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
X
Close
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
X
Close
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.