Arctic Gentian

Perennials 8-20 cm tall. Rhizomes short. Stems 1 or 2, erect, simple, subglabrous. Basal leaves in 1-3 erect rosettes; petiole 1-3.5 cm; leaf blade usually folded, linear-elliptic to lanceolate, 2-5.5 cm × 3-5 mm, base narrowed, apex obtuse, veins 1-3. Stem leaves 1-3 pairs; petiole 5-10 mm; leaf blade narrowly elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 1.8-2.8 cm × 4-8 mm, both ends obtuse, veins 1-3. Flowers solitary, rarely in terminal 2 or 3(-8)-flowered cymes, mostly sessile or subsessile, only basal axillary flowers occasionally pedicellate. Calyx obconic to campanulate, 2-2.2 cm, tube entire or slightly split on 1 side; lobes erect, ovate to triangular, 5-6 mm, apex obtuse. Corolla pale yellow to pale yellow-green, with blue stripes, sometimes with blue spots in limbs, tubular-campanulate to funnelform, 4-5 cm; lobes ovate to triangular, 5-6 mm, apex obtuse; plicae obliquely truncate, margin entire or indistinctly denticulate. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments 1.3-1.6 mm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 2.5-3.2 mm. Style 4-6 mm; stigma lobes linear. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, 2-3 cm; gynophore to 4.5 cm. Seeds light brown, broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, 1.4-1.6 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

Xinjiang, Xizang [Bhutan, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Mongolia, E Russia, Sikkim; North America].

Grassy hillsides, stony hillsides, alpine meadows; 1200-4200 m.

Gentiana algida var. sibirica Kusnezow; G. frigida Haenke var. algida (Pallas) Ledebour; G. romanzovii Ledebour ex Bunge.