BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Gentiana propinqua | Four-Parted Gentian 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Four-parted gentian is a native annual that grows 1 to 6 inches (3-15
cm) tall.  The basal leaves grow up to 1 inch (5-20 mm) long, the
cauline leaves 0.5 to 1.5 inches (1-4 cm) long.  The sympetalous flowers
have a pale bluish-purple corolla.  The upper flowers are 0.5 to 1 inch
(15-22 mm) across, and the lower flowers are about half that size.  The
capsule contains pale yellow seeds less than 1 mm in diameter [4,13].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Therophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Four-parted gentian reproduces by seed sexually produced by pollination
and fertilization [4].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Four-parted gentian grows in forests, meadows, along streambanks, and on
dry, open, rocky slopes [4,5,13].  It is a calciphile which grows in
sedge tussocks in arctic tundra [11].  Four-parted gentian occurs at
elevations ranging from 8,000 to 10,00 feet (2,580-3,225 m) in Montana
[9] and 2,200 to 2,730 feet (710-880 m) in Alaska [2].  Associates
include fescues (Festuca spp.), sedges (Carex spp.), fireweed (Epilobium
angustifolium), and shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) [2,11].
 


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Obligate Initial Community Species

Four-parted gentian is a colonizer in early succession [11].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Four-parted gentian flowers from June through August in the Pacific
Northwest and Montana [4,8].

Related categories for Species: Gentiana propinqua | Four-Parted Gentian