Plant Database

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Davis, Dick

Gentianopsis thermalis

Gentianopsis thermalis (Kuntze) Iltis

Rocky Mountain Fringed Gentian, Western Fringed Gentian

Gentianaceae (Gentian Family)

Synonym(s): Gentiana detonsa var. unicaulis, Gentiana elegans, Gentiana thermalis, Gentianella detonsa ssp. elegans, Gentianella detonsa var. elegans, Gentianopsis detonsa var. elegans, Gentianopsis elegans

USDA Symbol: GETH

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Several clumped stems with few leaves at base, 2-4 pairs of leaves on stem, and few bell-shaped, deep blue or blue-violet flowers at stem ends or in upper leaf axils on leafless stalks.

This genus differs from Gentiana by the absence of pleats between the corolla lobes. This species is sometimes combined with the more northerly G. detonsa into one large, very variable, wide-ranging species. This species was named "thermalis" after the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park where it is the park flower. Tufted Gentian (G. holopetala), of the Sierra Nevada, the mountains of southern California, and extreme western Nevada, is also sometimes combined with G. detonsa; its petals are not fringed or only fringed slightly at the tips.

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