"It (Fringed Gentian) came very
near not being an inhabitant of our latitude, perhaps our globe, at all." Henry David Thorea
Fringed Gentian is a
biennial herbaceous species. The first year plants are in the form of a basal rosette 3 to
6 cm in diameter. Second year plants originate from the basal rosette growing to 1 to 9 dm
in height with a single stem, occasionally with numerous axillary branches. Fringed
gentian has opposite, clasping, sessile, ovate to lanceolate leaves approximately 1 to 5
cm in length by 2 to 17 mm in width. In late September to early November, solitary,
iridescent blue flowers develop on naked peduncles approximately 2 to 10 cm in height.
Each finely fringed petal is 3.5 to 6 cm in length. The outermost flower parts are two
pairs of green sepals, strongly winged and flared on the basal margins, the outer pair
much larger than the inner. Unlike other southeastern, large-flowered, blue gentians, the
pleats (folded appendages) between the petals are lacking, and the flowers open and close
daily. The flowers of fringed gentian open only in the presence of direct sunlight and are
closed when in shaded or dark conditions. The anthers are free and the stamens extend
almost to the top of the corolla tube. The pistal is equal to the corolla tube or slightly
longer. The style is essentially absent. From November to January, a capsule (fruit),
which is broadest near the middle and tapered gradually to both ends develops. The capsule
is approximately 3 to 4 cm in length containing numerous minute seeds which, have
roughened tiny projections
Fringed gentian’s striking color and beauty has had the attention, not only of
naturalists, but artists and poets for many years, even though the plant is uncommon in
most of its U.S. range. While not an endangered species in Illinois, fringed gentian, Gentianopsis
crinita, is rarely encountered unless sought in an appropriate habitat— moist,
alkaline swales along the Lake Michigan shoreline and the moist vegetation that surrounds
many of the glacial lakes in Lake and McHenry counties. In the past the dunes and swales
of the southern portion of Illinois Beach State Park have sparkled with hundreds of
gentians.
While we usually associate wild flowers with spring and summer, fringed gentians are one
of last flowers in bloom before frost—late August to November. To experience these
gentians in their full glory, visit on a sunny day as the flowers open only in full
sunlight. On cloudy days and at night each four-petaled, iridescent, blue flower is
tightly closed into a narrow bell shape, ostensibly to protect its nectar and pollen from
rain showers. The main pollinators of fringed gentians are the robust bumblebees. Should
the flowers be only part way open, or even tightly closed, the large bees often force
their way in, reminiscent of struggling to place one's hand into a twisted glove.
The elusive nature of the fringed gentian in Illinois results from two factors: the
decline of its habitat and the fact that it is a taprooted annual or biennial and grows
only from seed. Thus, the colony that was so abundant at a site one year may be absent the
next. Fortunately, the wind-scattered seeds usually found new but often-distant colonies.
The name gentian comes from the Greek king Gentius who discovered the medicinal properties
of the group. To the wildflower enthusiast, the word gentian says "blue" and
perhaps brings to mind one of the stanzas of To the Fringed Gentian by William Cullen
Bryant.
"Then
doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
Blue—blue—as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall."
