Bottle Gentian

This picture of Gentiana andrewsii is posted for comparison to the Soapwort Gentian posted earlier. This attractive plant often grows in aspen thickets on damp, sandy soil. Compared to Soapwort Gentian, this plant has darker blue flowers that are more tapering into the summit, and this plant tends to grow 2 or 3 times taller. I'm sure that someone who never leaves their lab (and has never gotten their feet muddy or received a mosquito bite) has renamed it, but it is Gentiana andrewsii and always will be. I have a very large botanical library that says it is G. andrewsii. 

Soapwort Gentian

One of my favorite things about autumn is finding gentians. And one of my favorite gentians is Gentiana saponaria, Soapwort Gentian. This one was photographed in a damp sandy meadow in Lake County, Indiana. Welcome Autumn!!!

Fringed Gentian

Photographed in a wet meadow in northern Indiana. What's not to love about this striking plant?!

Soapwort Gentian

The rare and inspiring Gentiana saponaria is occasional in sand prairie remnants in northern Indiana. It is interesting and fun to watch a bumblebee pry the flower open, crawl inside, and disappear for a while.

I will never forget how my good friend Hontz loved gentians, and how we spent so many September and October days looking for them as we hiked along under flat-bottomed clouds in a brilliant blue sky.

Centaurium pulchellum, Showy Centaury

Centaurium pulchellum, Showy Centaury. This tiny, non-native member of the Gentianaceae grows in ruderal areas of northern Indiana. It prefers barren gray clay and compacted limestone gravel. This one was growing in compacted gravel at Beverly Shores, Indiana. I'm reminded of Aldo Leopold's description of tiny Draba: "... just a small creature that does a small job quickly and well." I'm claiming the Gentianaceae.