Gentianella amabilis
Common name
gentian
Synonyms
Gentiana amabilis Petrie
Family
Gentianaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Native
Endemic taxon
Yes
Endemic genus
No
Endemic family
No
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
GNTAMA
Chromosome number
2n = 36
Current conservation status
The conservation status of all known New Zealand vascular plant taxa at the rank of species and below were reassessed in 2017 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS). This report includes a statistical summary and brief notes on changes since 2012 and replaces all previous NZTCS lists for vascular plants. Authors: By Peter J. de Lange, Jeremy R. Rolfe, John W. Barkla, Shannel P. Courtney, Paul D. Champion, Leon R. Perrie, Sarah M. Beadel, Kerry A. Ford, Ilse Breitwieser, Ines Schönberger, Rowan Hindmarsh-Walls, Peter B. Heenan and Kate Ladley.
2012 | Not Threatened
Previous conservation statuses
2009 | Not Threatened
2004 | Not Threatened
Distribution
Endemic. New Zealand. South Island (Otago, Southland).
Habitat
Subalpine - Alpine cushion bogs and low-angled flushes.
Features
Plants polycarpic, height in flower 30–130 mm. Caudex unbranched, c.80 mm long. Root unbranched, 1.5–6.0 mm diameter at stem base. Flowering stems lateral only, 1–5 per plant, 1.1–2.0 mm diam. at base, stems tinted purple-black; lateral flowering stems erect or decumbent; flowering stem leaves 1–4 pairs per stem, lowest pedicels from near apex of flowering stem. Rosette of leaves distinct from flowering stem leaves; leaves narrowly elliptic or elliptic, 10–52 × 3.5–12.0 mm, tinted crimson below or tinted purple-black and speckled purple, channelled (petiole channelled also), not recurved, petiole indistinct to distinct, 9.5–12.5 × 1.0–4.1 mm wide; apex acute or rounded. Flowering stems 1-3 stems per plant. Flowering leaves as for rosette leaves but the upper ones sessile. Pedicels one per leaf axil, 3–37 mm long, 1.2–1.5 mm diameter. Flowers 1–5(-8)per plant, 15–23 mm long. Calyx 7.5–14.2 mm long, green tinted purple-black, hairs at calyx–corolla fusion line absent or present; lobes 4.5–9.5 × 3.1–4.7 mm at base, plane, apices acute, margins smooth or minutely denticulate, sinus hairs sparse. Corolla 11.8–22.5 mm long, white; tube 3.5–6.0 mm long; lobes 9.7–16 mm long, 5.8–10.6 mm wide, hairs below sinus absent or present; nectary 0.8–1.2–1.8 mm from corolla base. Filaments 7.5–13 mm long from corolla base, 0.9–2.0(–2.6) mm wide. Anthers 1.7–3.0 mm long, anther wall blue-black, mouth yellow, extrorse at anthesis; pollen yellow. Stigma colourless. Ovules 28–56 per ovary. Capsule 20–27 mm long.
Similar taxa
Close to Gentianella bellidiflora from which it differs in being shorter, 30–130 mm tall (70–280 mm tall in Otago G. bellidifolia); having purple-spotted leaves with a dark purple petiole (green and unspotted in G. bellidifolia), and fewer flowers, 1–8 per plant (Otago G. bellidifolia has 4–26 flowers per plant); fewer flowering stems, 1–3 per plant (Otago G. bellidifolia has 1–4 stems per plant). The calyx lobes are wider, 3.1–4.7 mm wide (cf. 1.7–4.4) mm in G. bellidifolia), and the filaments are wider on average 1.7 mm rather than 1.2 mm.
Flowering
January – February
Flower colours
White, Yellow
Fruiting
March - May
Life cycle
Seeds dispersed by ballistic projection, wind and water (Thorsen et al., 2009)
Propagation technique
Difficult. Should not be removed from the wild.
Etymology
gentianella: Little Gentiana (named after Gentius, 6th century king of Illyria, who found the roots of the yellow gentian to have a healing effect on his malaria-stricken troops)
amabilis: From the Latin amare, ‘to love’, amabilis can be translated as ‘worthy of love’ or ‘pleasing’, botany was also called scienta amabilis ‘the pleasing science’
Where To Buy
Not Commercially Available
Attribution
Fact Sheet for NZPCN prepared by P.J. de Lange (1 November 2004). Description modified from Glenny (2004)
References and further reading
Glenny, D. 2004: A revision of the genus Gentianella in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42: 361-530.
Thorsen, M. J.; Dickinson, K. J. M.; Seddon, P. J. 2009. Seed dispersal systems in the New Zealand flora. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11: 285-309