Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PRAIRIE GENTIAN

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Eustoma exaltatum (L. ) Salisb. ex G. Don subsp. russellianum (Hook. ) Kartesz

[=Eustoma grandiflorum (Raf. ) Shinners]

Comanche County, Kansas, Photo by Phyllis Scherich

Annual

Height: 10-24 inches

Family: Gentianaceae - Gentian Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Also Called:

Showy prairie gentian, texas bluebell.

Stems:

Erect, 1 to several, stout, blue-green, waxy.

Leaves:

Opposite, simple, stiffly ascending, variable, ovate-oblong to elliptic-lanceolate, .6 to 3 inches long, 1/5 to 2 inches wide, waxy, 3-veined, margins entire, sessile to somewhat clasping.

Inflorescences:

Clusters of 2-6 flowers, panicle-like, terminal on stout stalks to 2.5 inches long, bracts at base of stalk.

Flowers:

Showy, 2 to 3 inches broad; calyx deeply cleft; sepals 5, united for less than 1/3 length; lobes linear-lanceolate, 1/2 to 1 inch long; corolla bell-shaped, deeply cleft, bluish-purple, pink or white; lobes 5, elliptic to egg-shaped, without folds or pleats between lobes; stamens 5 or 6; filaments 2/5 to 3/5 inch long; stigma 2-lobed, style slender.

Fruits:

Capsule, oblong, pointed, to 4/5 inch long; seeds numerous, small, pitted.

Habitat:

Moist meadows and prairies; moist sandy or sandy loam soils.

Distribution:

West 1/2 of Kansas.

Comments:

Named for Alexander Russell, and 18th Century English physician, author and botanist.

Prairie gentian