Gentianella amarella

Northern Gentian

Flower Top - Four Corolla Lobes

Lac des Iles in Meadow Lake Provincial Park
15-August-2008

Note that it is not uncommon to find flowers with four corolla lobes instead of five, as shown by this flower.  

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Amarella/Gentianella/GentianBudd's Flora (BF) places this species in broadly circumscribed genus GentianFlora of Alberta (FOA) has removed a number of species (including this one) from Gentian sensu lato and placed them in a new, smaller genus Gentianella.  The following are answers to key questions leading to genus Gentian in Budd's Flora, leading to genus Gentianella in Flora of Alberta, and leading to species amarella in both floras.
bulletplants with simple opposite leaves; NOT [plants with trifoliolate leaves]
bulletflowers short-peduncled, NOT [flowers long-peduncled]
bulletflowers usually less than 1.5 cm long; NOT [flowers usually more than 2 cm long]
bulletcalyx-lobes with green margins; NOT [calyx-lobes with thin hyaline margins]
bulletcorolla not spurred at base; NOT [corolla, at least in the larger flowers, with 4 hollow spurs at base]
bulletcorolla tubular to funnelform or nearly cup-shaped; NOT [corolla rotate] (FOA)
bulletcorolla campanulate or bell-shaped; NOT [corolla rotate] (BF)
bulletcorolla tube as long as or longer than the lobes; NOT [corolla tube much shorter than the lobes]
bulletcorolla WITHOUT plaits or folds between the lobes; NOT [corolla with plaits or folds between the lobes]
bulletcorolla-lobes entire or sparingly toothed; NOT [corolla-lobes fringed or toothed]
bulletcorolla-lobes acute or obtuse; NOT [corolla-lobes apiculate or setose at tips]
bulletcorolla lobes 5-9 veined; NOT [corolla lobes 3-veined]
bulletthroat of corolla with a fringe of hairs; NOT [throat of corolla hairless]
bulletstamens on the corolla tube; NOT [stamens inserted at base of corolla]
bulletnectaries upon the base of the corolla-tube alternate with the stamens; NOT [nectaries at the base of the ovary]

 

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Gentianaceae: Note that the key to the families in Budd's Flora requires flowers in cymose clusters; NOT [flowers scorpioid or solitary in leaf axils] in order to distinguish Gentianaceae from Hydrophyllaceae.  Although many authors define scorpioid as a type of cyme, Budd's Flora defines it as of an inflorescence, uncoiling as the flowers develop.  It defines cyme as a cluster of flowers in which the central flowers open first.  The rest of the answers to key questions in Budd's Flora leading to family Gentianaceae are listed below:
bulletherbs; NOT [shrubs or trees]
bulletplants green or with some chlorophyll; NOT [plants parasitic or saprophytic, without chlorophyll]
bulletplants NOT twining
bulletplants WITHOUT milky juice
bulletleaves opposite; NOT [leaves alternate or basal]
bulletflowers NOT in heads or spikes; NOT [flowers in long or short spikes], NOT [flowers in heads or in form resembling a head]
bulletflowers with two floral rings, but with the petals wholly or partly united forming a tube or bell
bulletcorolla regular; NOT [corolla irregular]
bulletstamens 4 or 5; NOT [stamens 8 or 10]
bulletstamens alternating with corolla lobes, or twice their number; NOT [stamens directly in front of corolla lobes]
bulletstyle terminal; NOT [style from centre of lobes of ovary]
bulletovary superior; NOT [ovary inferior]
bulletovary 1-celled; NOT [ovary 2- or 3-celled]
bulletovary with seeds borne on wall of cell; NOT [ovary with seeds born on axis in centre of cell]
bulletfruit a berry or capsule; NOT [fruit with 4 nutlets]