Finding Flowers As Blue As A Summer Sky The dazzling blue of the tall fringed gentian reflects the sun-drenched sky to which it points. Sunny days were made for fringed gentians. Almost as though mirroring the crisp blue sky, these dazzling four-petaled wildflowers open widely toward their zenith. Cloudy overcast days nearly always find them closed tightly – no blue sky, no blue gentians. Wildflower aficionados place some of the many gentian species among their most favorites of all plants. Fortunately there are about 60 different kinds in North America with approximately 23 species to be found in the eastern half of the country. People who have explored the Alps Mountains of Europe claim there is no finer place in the world to see gentians at their best. The blue gentian of the Alps, Gentiana (gen-she-AY-na) acaulis, is said by rock gardeners to be the most popular species in cultivation today. Leave it up to the English to have at least 150 species successfully growing there, plants from North America, the Himalayas, Burma, Tibet, China, Japan and elsewhere. The British Isles have the coolness and moisture so important for successful growing of especially the perennial gentians. Some of the plants demand very specialized conditions of scree, or rocky debris, in their growth. The majority of the 60 wild species in North America, around 35 species, are found in the Rocky Mountain region. Many of these alpine plants grow at high altitudes and are very short. Hikers are thrilled in mid to late summer to discover the vast carpets of rich blue explorer’s gentians, G. calycosa. These brilliant wildflowers can be found in alpine meadows from California to British Columbia and eastward to Montana. A close relative, the Rocky Mountain fringed gentian, is the official flower of the Yellowstone National Park. The supposed discoverer of the medicinal properties of a particular gentian was Gentius, king of Illyria, during the second century B.C. It is the European gentian, G. lutea, the large, handsome, three to four-foot yellow-flowered plant whose dried rhizomes and roots were used in past years as a tonic to stimulate the alimentary tract. The gentian that most people in Northeastern Wisconsin will find during much of September is the bottle gentian, G. andrewsii (an-DREW-see-eye). It is also called the closed or even the blind gentian. These fairly abundant flowers, often growing on the borders of marshes and swamps, are more truly the color of the eastern bluebird’s back. Their tiny winged seeds sail far and the blossoms may provide bumblebees with their last food of the season. In fact few other insects have the strength to enter these unusual and colorful closed blossoms. Much more rare in this and other regions is the famed fringed gentian. Two species, G. crinita (cri-NY-ta) and G. procera (pro-SEE-ra) can be found. Less common is crinita, the species having the longest fringes on the edges of its four petals. Leaves are about one-third as broad as they are long. Those of G. procera are considerably narrower. G. procera is the species you will most likely find decorating the moist limy meadows and rocky shores of northeastern Wisconsin. Like gypsies they come and they go. One year there will be dozens of them in a specific area, the next year only a few. They are biennials, the first-year plants being exceptionally small and difficult to locate. Seeds that the second-year plants produce are also small, almost dust-like, and can scatter for long distances over the frozen crusty snow of winter. Even though many wildflower books refer to G. procera as the lesser fringed gentian, I find this to be unnecessarily degrading and prefer not to use this description. The word procera means tall, hence I like to call it the tall fringed gentian. However, by October and even into early November, some of these "tall" plants may be in full bloom while no higher than a few inches. I fondly remember seeing a tall fringed gentian plant back in the 1960’s that had 56 blossoms on it, all in the peak of bloom. William Cullen Bryant spoke highly of the flower, clearly reflecting a particular fondness for this plant from years of enjoyable observations. Read his poem, "To the Fringed Gentian," then head for the Great-Out-Doors in quest of the fringed flower of King Gentius. Enjoy them to your heart’s content, but please do so where Bthey grow. Happy autumn days! This column appeared in the Door County Advocate on 09/06/2003. © Copyright 2003 Roy Lukes. All rights reserved.