Fringed Gentian - Gentianopsis crinita

Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie in Madison, Wisconsin on September 13, 2022.

Above: Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie in Madison, Wisconsin. A small grouping intermixed with Blue Lobelia in boggy area near cattails (9/13/22).

Fringed Gentian - Gentianopsis crinita

Fringed Gentian is a native plant that grows in moist areas like meadows, woods and streambanks. Its populations are generally in small and scattered groups – not always common to find.

Fringed Gentian has singular blooms on slender, 2 to 7 inch stalks. The blue, funnel-shaped flowers are 4-parted and about 1 1/2" - 2" wide. Petals are densely fringed, with no folds between.

Fringed Gentian blooms from August - October.

Other Names: Greater Fringed Gentian.

Fringed Gentain

by Henry David Thoreau (Oct. 19, 1852 Journal)

"It is too remarkable a flower not to be sought out and admired each year, however rare. It is one of the errands of the walker, as well as of the bees, for it yields him a more celestial nectar still.”

God Made a Little Gentian

by Emily Dickinson

God made a little Gentian —
It tried — to be a Rose —
And failed — and all the Summer laughed —
But just before the Snows

There rose a Purple Creature —
That ravished all the Hill —
And Summer hid her Forehead —
And Mockery — was still —

The Frosts were her condition —
The Tyrian would not come
Until the North — invoke it —
Creator — Shall I — bloom?

For more information on the Fringed Gentian, visit Wikipedia.

Or, visit the UW-Madison Wisconsin State Herbarium website page about Fringed Gentian - Gentianopsis crinita.

Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie in Madison, Wisconsin on September 14, 2022.

Fringed Gentian at the edge of the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie along a service road in Madison, Wisconsin on September 27, 2022.

Fringed Gentian at the edge of the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie along a service road in Madison, Wisconsin on September 28, 2022.

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Wisconsin Wildflowers

Fringed Gentian
Gentianopsis crinita

Above: Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie next to service road in Madison, Wisconsin (9/28/22).

Above: Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie next to service road in Madison, Wisconsin (9/27/22).

Above: Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie in Madison, Wisconsin. Intermixed with Blue Lobelia. (9/13/22).

Above: Fringed Gentian in the UW Arboretum's Curtis Prairie in Madison, Wisconsin. Intermixed with Blue Lobelia. (9/14/22).

Fringed Gentian specimen collected 2 mile west of Springfield in Walworth County on September 5, 1986.

Above: Fringed Gentian specimen collected 2 mile west of Springfield in Walworth County. (9/05/1986).

Above: 1913 Fringed Gentian botanical drawing.

Fringed Gentian botanical line drawing from USDA NRCS, Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species., USDA NRCS National Wetland Team.

Above: Fringed Gentian botanical line drawing from USDA NRCS, Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide to plant species., USDA NRCS National Wetland Team.

Above: 1905 Fringed Gentian illustration by Mary Vaux Walcott. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist.

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