Common name: Gentian, Wingecarribee Gentian
Gentiana wingecarribiensis L.G.Adams APNI* Synonyms: Gentiana sp. B sensu Jacobs & Pickard (1981) APNI*
Description: Erect to somewhat decumbent, short-lived annual herb 2.5–12 cm high, glabrous; stem usually simple or sparsely branched (sometimes many-branched with up to 9 branches that each terminate with a single flower), minutely scabrous above, smooth below, often purplish or reddish tinged.
Leaves all cauline, 4–7 pairs, sessile, dark green, broad- or oblong-ovate, 2–9 mm long, 2.5–6 wide.
Flowers terminal, solitary, 1–9 per plant. Calyx 6–10 mm long; ribs not winged; lobes 2–4 mm long. Corolla narrow-campanulate, 10–17 mm long, c. 4–11 mm diam., greenish ribbed outside, sky blue inside (may appear purple- or mauve-blue with cream stripes down tube); the upper 2–3 mm free. Stipe 2–3 mm long, elongating in fruit to 15–25 mm long. Opening of the corolla (anthesis) occurs in bright sunlight (photonastic) and/or as a response to change in temperature (thermonastic).
Capsule broad-obovoid, (1-) 4–6 mm long, with a flared, 2-lipped apex when open; seeds numerous (up to several hundred per capsule), orange-brown, 0.25–0.35 mm long.
Flowering: September–December (sometimes to early January)
Distribution and occurrence: only known from two swamps in the Southern Highlands district. Grows in upland peatlands/wetlands in Sphagnum moss hummocks, herbfields and sedgeland/grassland; often in ecotone habitat on swamp margin or openings in wet heath/scrub. Occurs in the listed ecological community 'Temperate Highland Peat Swamps on Sandstone'.
NSW subdivisions: CT
Threatened species: NSW BCA: Critically Endangered; Commonwealth EPBC: Endangered
Information on the Gentian's ecology provided by P.G. Kodela et al., Cunninghamia 3(3): 535-541 (1994).
Text by P.G. Kodela (June 2008)
Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992); see also P.G. Kodela et al., Cunninghamia 3(3): 535-541 (1994).
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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