| Where the garden meets the wild | ||
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GENTIANA, GENTIANOPSIS, SWERTIA GENTIAN & ITS COUSINS Gentianaceae (Gentian family) 龙胆属 Long dan shu 扁蕾属 Bian lei shu 獐牙菜属 Zhang ya cai shu |
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Gentiana triflora var. japonica in our garden in late July. Photograph © Pat Woodward. |
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Pay even less attention than usual to our suggested Zones. They are based on published numbers, modified by our experience in Zone 6. Gentians have survived Ice Ages. Zones in this list are probably too conservative. If you like gentians, you might also like their unusual climbing cousin, Tripterospermum japonicum, sometimes called Gentiana trinervis. |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana acaulis Linnaeus. Emblem
of the Alpine Garden Society, this mat-former grows wild in alpine
meadows from Spain to the Balkans. There are many forms, few of them truly
stemless ("acaulis") and even fewer of them easy to grow. Ours
is a short-stemmed form, time-tested in gardens, with huge, long-lasting
cobalt-blue trumpets in May-June (sometimes as early as April and sometimes again in
August-September)
and small, shiny leaves. It likes acid soil and spreads easily for us on a
south-facing slope that gets part-day shade. The soil is mineral and is
sometimes mulched in late autumn with rotted horse manure. Some years we
forget to attend to it at all. Height 5-8 cm (2-3").
Zone 3.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photograph by Brother Alfred Brousseau, © St. Mary's College of California |
Gentiana
affinis Griseb. Pleated gentian. Native to W North
America.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00
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Photograph © Paige Woodward |
Gentiana algida Pallas. Cold
gentian, Whitish gentian.
高山龙胆
Gao shan long dan (Chinese).
Kumoirindou
(Japanese). Zone 5
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photograph from Famous Flowers from Yunnan. |
Gentiana atuntsiensis W.W.
Smith. 阿墩子龙胆
A dun zi long dan (Chinese). Our plants are grown from seeds collected in Yunnan as ARGS 0201. Not available this season.
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Photograph by Brother Alfred Brousseau, © St. Mary's College of California |
Gentiana calycosa Grisebach. Explorer's
gentian, Rainier pleated gentian. Zone 4 Pot 9 cm / 3.5". $6.00 |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana cruciata Linnaeus. Star
gentian. Zone
5.
Pot 10 cm / 4". $5.00 |
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Photograph © Dorrie Woodward |
Gentiana glauca Pallas.
Inky gentian.
ヨコヤマリンドウ
Yokoyamarindou
(Japanese). Small and wonderful, this
gentian's flowers are a metallic blue unlike all others. A joy to find at the end of a long hike and perfect
for alpine troughs, it grows typically on wet alpine hummocks. Here you see
it on Mt. Perkins in British Columbia. Zone 4.
Not available this season. |
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| Gentiana jamesii Hemsley. 长白山龙胆 Chang bai shan long dan (Chinese); リシリリンドウ Rishiririndou (Japanese). Native to cold far eastern Asia. Height 10-20 cm (4-8"). Stoloniferous. Blooms July-September. | ||
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| Gentiana
macrophylla var. fetissowii.
大花秦艽
Da hua qin jiao (Chinese).
Formerly Gentiana wutaiensis. Zone 6.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". In Canada C$5.00; elsewhere US$4.25. |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana microdonta Franchet.
小齿龙胆
Xiao chi long dan
(Chinese). Zone 6.
Not available this season. |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana newberryi Asa
Gray. Newberry's gentian, Alpine gentian. Zone 6.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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| Gentiana
olgae Regel & Schmalh.
北疆秦艽
Bei jiang qin jiao
(Chinese). Native to Xinjiang in China, and to
Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan at elevations around 3000 m (9,850').
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Gentiana scabra
Bunge. Rough gentian.
龙胆
Long dan (Chinese).
リンドウ
Rindou
(Japanese). Native to far eastern Asia, this
gentian blooms in autumn: mid-October with us. Its stems, about 30 cm
(12") long, often lie on the ground, but hold the flowers at their
tips upright. Thus one floppy plant produces the effect of a swarm of very
short, upright ones. Our plants descend from
wild seeds collected in Japan and received as var. buergeri; the
main distinction of that variety is supposedly narrow calyx lobes that are
longer than the flower tube, but our plants, and a great many others shown
on Japanese websites, lack that trait. We suspect that the species is
quite variable. Zone 5.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photographs © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana sceptrum Grisebach. Swamp
gentian; King's gentian. Zone 6.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Scans © Paige Woodward |
Gentiana septemfida Pallas. Crested
gentian, Fringed gentian. 西亚龙胆
(Chinese). Zone
3. Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana setigera Asa
Gray. Mendocino gentian. Sometimes called Gentiana bisetaea. Zone 6.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana sinoornata Isaac
Bayley Balfour.
类华丽龙胆
Lei hua li long dan
(Chinese). Sometimes
spelled sino-ornata, with a hyphen. The paler throat with dark
lines and no spots to speak of is characteristic. Zone 6.
Not available this season. |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana tibetica King
ex. J.D. Hooker.
西藏秦艽
Xi zang qin jiao
(Chinese). Zone
6.
Pot 15 cm / 1 gal. $8.00 |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward |
Gentiana triflora var. japonica
(Kusnezow) H. Hara. 三花龙胆
San hua long dan
(Chinese). エゾリンドウEzorindou
(Japanese). Zone 5. Pot 15 cm /1 gal. $8.00 |
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| Gentiana trinervis. Climbing gentian. | ||
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| Gentiana wutaiensis. | ||
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| Gentianopsis
grandis Ma. 大花扁蕾
Da hua bian lei (Chinese).
This biennial gentian has exceptionally large, deep blue flowers ~ 5-10 cm
(2-4") long. It blooms in July-September on damp, montane slopes and
streamsides in China's SW Sichuan and NW Yunnan provinces. Height 25-50
cm (10-20"). Zone 6, perhaps colder.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward
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Gentianopsis thermalis (Kuntze)
Iltis. Rocky Mountain fringed gentian. Zone 5.
Our plants are from garden seed. Not available this season. |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Swertia bimaculata (Siebold
& Zuccarini) J. D. Hooker & Thomson ex C. B. Clarke.
獐牙菜
Zhang ya cai
(Chinese). Annual or biennial but seeds
around. Usually biennial with us. Flowers in autumn. Native to wet places across
E Asia. Grow it where you would grow wetland plants in sun-lit mud or
shallows. Zone 6.
Pot 6 cm / 2.5". $6.00 |
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| This page was updated March 24, 2008. |