Botanical Magazine 106 - 1880.pdf - hibiscus.org

TAB. 6514.
GENTIANA OENATA.
Native of the Himalaya.
Nat. Ord. GENTIANEJE.•Tribe SWEETIES.
Genus GENTIANA, Linn.} (Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. vol. ii. p. 815.
GENTTANA (Pneumonanthe) ornata ; caulibus e radice perennanti decumbentibus
gracilibus foliosis, foliis parvis ovato- v. oblongo-lanceolatis linearibusve
margine cartilagineis lsevissimis, floribus sessilibas terrainalibus solitariis,
calycis 5-fidi lobis ovato- v. lineari-lanceolatis corollam dimidiam a;quantibus,
corolla c•rulea, tubo subcylindraceo inflato v. subinfundibulari striato, lobis 5
parvis triangulari-ovatis acutis plicis triangularibus obtusis integris multo
longioribus, antberis liberis, capsula fusiformi pedicellate corollae sequilonga,
seminis testa lamellato-rugosa exalata.
G. ornata, Wall. Cat. n. 4386; Griseb. in DC. Prodr. vol. ix. p. 110.
Pneumonanthe ornata, Don Gard. Diet vol. iv. p. 194.
This beautiful little Gentian is a native of the rich alpine
meadows of the Himalaja, where it represents the G. frit/ida
of the Hungarian Alps, and from which it differs in the
cartilaginous margins of the leaves, and the absence of the
filamentous remains of old stems on the summit of the
root-stock, as also in the colour of the corolla, which is of an
intense blue, not white, like the European species.
The G. ornata is confined to the central and eastern
Himalaya; it was discovered by Wallich's collectors in
Central Nepal, and I have gathered it abundantly in Sikkim
at elevations of 13,000 to 16,000 feet.
I am indebted to Mr. SadJer, of the Edinburgh Botanical
Gardens, for sending the specimen here figured, which
flowered in May. Some of the native specimens have much
longer, narrower, and acuminate leaves, and more funnel-
shaped corollas.
DESCE. Stems numerous, three to five inches long,
spreading from the root-stock, decumbent with ascending
SEPTEMBER 1ST, 1880.