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February 5, 2010 : Gentiana prostrata
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Plant Family / Families: Gentianaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Gentiana prostrata Haenke
Name Location: La Parva, near Santiago, Chile | along the Dempster Highway, Northwest Territories, Canada
The Gentianaceae series is concluded with two photographs taken by local plant guru Alan Tracey (thank you!). They are photographs of the same species of gentian, but from locations over 12 000km (7000miles) apart. The image with many flowers was taken in La Parva, Chile, while the solitary flower was photographed somewhere along the Dempster Highway in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
Gentiana prostrata, or pygmy gentian, is a low-growing 3-7cm (to 3in.) tall annual. Its preferred habitat is wet meadows of high altitudes or tundra. Conflicting accounts of its range abound; the Flora of China account does not mention South America, nor does The Jepson Manual. Though both of these cite Eurasia and western North America, the absence of South America is curious. The species, after all, was collected by Darwin near the Straits of Magellan during the Voyage of The Beagle. Perhaps it is because the species was thought to have been dispersed to South America by albatross (might be a subscription-only link)?
Gentiana prostrata was scientifically described by the Bohemian-born botanist, Tadeáš Haenke. To read more about Haenke, an excellent compilation of articles about his life are presented in the Botanical Electronic News, Issues 287 and 288.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at February 5, 2010 11:00 AM
Comments
...or read recent comments on all BPotD Entries
Posted by: Meg Bernstein at February 5, 2010 11:34 AM
I agree with you Meg.
This plant is so cute, it makes me go awwww.
Thanks!
Posted by: Leanne at February 5, 2010 12:20 PM
I also enjoyed working through a family. Very educational. I love the daily photos and very much appreciate your efforts.
Cheers,
Sara
Posted by: Sara at February 5, 2010 12:38 PM
Lovely flowers, and the warm sun shining in the photo also fills me with nostalgia for better weather (33 degrees F and heavy heavy rain now). I look forward to every day's photo in my inbox; have particularly enjoyed the gentians.
Posted by: Julie at February 5, 2010 1:21 PM
yes, I vote for more families in review as well. Daniel, is that a Sedum to the right of the specimen from the Northwest Territories? species?
Posted by: Quin at February 5, 2010 1:56 PM
I concur with the others who are enjoying the review of families, it's very interesting to see the varieties contained within a genus!
Posted by: Ann Rein at February 5, 2010 3:47 PM
Albatross probably IS a subscription-only link!! a sweet fleur and a clever write-up.
Posted by: Dianne Saichek at February 5, 2010 4:07 PM
it is nice i think to be able to
walk the world and meet the same tribe
in unexpected places
i read haenke's storey an early plant hunter
off to see an unkown world -thank you
i wonder where the collection may be if at all
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at February 5, 2010 6:23 PM
"is a low-growing 3-7cm (to 3in.) tall annual."
Low-growing or tall? Which is it?
Posted by: He Who Lives With Yankees at February 5, 2010 8:25 PM
Thank you for the time you put into your very nice web site. I came to it today for the first time as I was researching the proper name for what has most often been called "Tragopogon pratensis", Meadow Salsify. The USDA Plants Database and John Kartesz ( http://www.bonap.org and The Synthesis of the North American Flora) now accept the name, "Tragopogon lamottei".
Regarding your lovely plant of the day, Gentiana prostrata: your article might make it seem that Darwin was the first to collect this plant. He was not. It was collected (in 1789), named, and described by Haenke.
If your web site viewers would like to see more photographs of it, some other very nice Gentians, and 800 species of plants of the Rockies and nearby high deserts, they can look at my non-commercial web site, http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com . William Weber, Colorado plant authority, maintains that Gentiana protrata should be called Chondrophylla prostrata. You can see it on my web site at http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com/Blue%20Purple%20Enlarged%20Photo%20Pages/chondrophylla%20prostrata.htm
Posted by: Al Schneider at February 6, 2010 8:00 AM
OMG! these are the sweetest little flowers!
Posted by: Kate at February 6, 2010 7:05 PM
I don't think one would say it is a low-growing 3-7cm short annual. I'm not ~200cm _short_ -- I'm around 200cm tall.
Posted by: Daniel Mosquin 
at February 7, 2010 8:49 PM
Does anybody have digital pictures of Santalum album, Myroxylon balsamum var. pereirae and Victoria amazonica with a beetle in the flower - in high resolution? I need it urgently for our special exhibition about scent.
Thank you in advance.
Karin Komptscher
Dr. Karin Kompatscher
Curator
The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle
Die Gärten von Schloss Trauttmansdorff
I Giardini di Castel Trauttmansdorff
St.-Valentin-Str. 51a Via S. Valentino
I-39012 Meran/Merano
Tel. +39 0473 235730
Fax +39 0473 235731
Karin.Kompatscher@provinz.bz.it
www.trauttmansdorff.it
Posted by: Karin at March 3, 2010 8:16 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
I really like working through a family like this, it's interesting to see the variation between so many species in one group.