{{Short description|Plant species in the gentian family}} {{Speciesbox | image = Gentiana amarella L ag1.jpg | status = {{TNCStatus}} | status_system = TNC | status_ref = <ref name="NatureServe">{{cite web |last1=NatureServe |title=''Gentianella amarella'' |url=https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1300819/Gentianella_amarella |access-date=10 September 2024 |location=Arlington, Virginia |date=2024}}</ref> | genus = Gentianella | species = amarella | authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]) [[Carl Julius Bernhard Börner|Börner]] | synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id=108639-2 |title=''Gentianella amarella'' (L.) Börner |access-date=10 September 2024}}</ref> | synonyms = {{Species list |Eyrythalia pulchella|Gray |Gentiana amarella|L. |Gentiana pulchella|Salisb. |Gentianella amarella subsp. euamarella|Á.Löve & D.Löve |Gentianella acuta|(Michaux) Hiitonen |Gentianusa amarella|(L.) Pohl |Opsantha amarella|(L.) Delarbre }} }}
'''''Gentianella amarella''''', the '''autumn gentian''', '''autumn dwarf gentian''',{{r|usda}} or '''autumn felwort''',{{r|nelc}} is a short [[biennial plant]] flowering plant in the gentian family, [[Gentianaceae]]. It is found throughout Northern Europe, the western and northern United States, and Canada.{{r|usda|fitter1974|vascan}}
==Description== ''Gentianella amarella'' the autumn gentian, autumn dwarf gentian,{{r|usda}} or autumn felwort is a biennial [[herbaceous plant]], which only produces a low leaf rosette with elliptical to [[lanceolate]] leaves in its first year. In the second year it usually grows a [[Plant stem|stem]] from 5 to 30 (3 to 50) centimeters long. The stem is straight or branched just above the base; at flowering time it is without leaves which distinguishes it from similar species.
=== Generative characteristics === The flowering period is from July to early October, and the [[axil]]s produce numerous flowers. The relatively small, [[hermaphrodite]] flowers are purplish bells (reddish-violet corolla) are trumpet-shaped between 12 and 22 mm long and have five petals with double [[perianth]] (calyx and corolla). The cup is much shorter than the crown tube. The five vestibules are upright and mostly somewhat unequal. The coronet is bearded. The [[Ovary (botany)|ovary]] and the fruit are sedentary or rarely short-stalked.
The number of [[chromosomes]] is 2n = 36.
== Taxonomy and distribution == ''Gentianella amarella'' was first published in 1753 under the name ([[basionym]]) ''Gentiana amarella'' by [[Carl Linnaeus]]. The new combination to ''Gentianella amarella'' was published in 1912 by [[Carl Julius Bernhard Börner]]. The [[Botanical name#Components of plant names|epithet]] ''amarella'' means somewhat bitter.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Dictionary of Botanical Epithets |url=http://botanicalepithets.net/dictionary/dictionary.20.html |access-date=2021-11-02 |website=botanicalepithets.net}}</ref>
There are about five subspecies of ''Gentianella amarella'':{{citation needed|date=November 2021}} {| class="wikitable " |- ! Image !! Subspecies !! Distribution |- |[[File:Gentianella amarella ssp. acuta kz01.jpg|150px]]||''Gentianella amarella'' subsp. ''acuta'' <small>(Michx.) J.M.Gillett</small> (syn.: ''Comastoma acutum'' <small>(Michx.) Y.Z.Zhao & X.Zhang</small>, ''Gentiana acuta'' <small>Michx.</small>, ''Gentianella acuta'' <small>(Michx.) Hiitonen</small> ||It is widespread in temperate Asia and North America, e.g. Mongolia, [[Inner Mongolia]], the Chinese provinces Heilongjiang, Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning, Shanxi, Shandong, [[Shaanxi]] as well as [[Ningxia]], the Eastern Russian territories of Magadan, Buryatia, Gorno-Altay, Tuva, Yakutia-Sakha, Krasnoyarsk, Chita and Irkutsk, the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Northwest Territory, Yukon Territory, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia and Nunavut, the US states Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Maine, Vermont, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and California and the northern Mexican states of Durango and Nuevo León. |- |||''Gentianella amarella'' subsp. ''amarella'' (syn.: ''Gentiana livonica'' <small>Eschsch. ex Griseb.</small>, ''Gentianella amarella'' subsp. ''hibernica'' <small>N.M.Pritch.</small> ||It is located in North, South, Southeast, Central and Eastern Europe, in [[Caucasus]] and [[Central Asia]], [Siberia] widespread. [[Armenia]], [[Azerbaijan]], [[Dagestan]], Ciscaucasia, [[Kazakhstan]], Magadan, Buryatia, Gorno-Altay, Tuva, Yakutia-Sakha, Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Karelia, Murmansk, [[Belarus]], [[Estonia]], [[Lithuania]], [[Latvia]], European parts of Russia, [[Ukraine]], [[Romania]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Serbia]], Slovakia, [[Hungary]], [[Poland]], Czech Republic, [[Austria]], [[Germany]], [[Belgium]], [[Switzerland]], [[Italy]], [[France]], [[Denmark]], [[Sweden]], [[Norway]], [[Finland]], [[Ireland]] and [[United Kingdom]]. |- |||''Gentianella amarella'' subsp. ''lingulata'' <small>(C.Agardh) Holub</small> (syn.: ''Gentiana lingulata'' <small>C.Agardh</small> ||It is found in the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe. |- |||''Gentianella amarella'' subsp.''reussii'' <small>(Tocl) Holub</small> || It occurs in [[Slovakia]] |- |[[File:Gentianella amarella.jpg|150px]]||''Gentianella amarella'' subsp.''septentrionalis'' <small>(Druce) N.M.Pritch.</small> ||It occurs in [[United Kingdom|Great Britain]] and [[Iceland]]. |- |}
==Ecology== Its habitat is in grass, often on lime-rich soil (in England typically on chalk).{{r|fitter1974}} It grows on dry, sandy or calcareous soils, but also on wet peat or marl soils and thus thrives in bog meadows. It is growing in the [[molinion]] association.
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=fitter1974>{{cite book |title=The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe |publisher=Collins |author1=Fitter, Richard |author2=Fitter, Alastair |author3=Blamey, Marjorie |year=1974 |pages=182}}</ref> <ref name=nelc>{{cite web |url=http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003854.pdf |title=Lardon Chase |publisher=Natural England |access-date=2016-02-02 |archive-date=2014-03-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330114002/http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1003854.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> <ref name=usda>{{PLANTS |id=GEAM3 |taxon=Gentianella amarella |access-date=16 August 2020}}</ref> <ref name=vascan>{{cite web |vauthors=Brouillet L, Desmet P, Coursol F, Meades SJ, Favreau M, Anions M, Bélisle P, Gendreau C, Shorthouse D, etal |date=2010 |title=''Gentianella amarella'' (Linnaeus) Börner |url=https://data.canadensys.net/vascan/taxon/6010 |website=Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN) |access-date=16 August 2020}}</ref> }}
== External links == {{Commons}} * {{FloraWeb|2650|Gentianella amarella agg.}} * [http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/gentiana/genta/gentamav.jpg Distribution across the Northern hemisphere] according to [[Eric Hultén]] * Thomas Meyer: [http://www.blumeninschwaben.de/Zweikeimblaettrige/Enziangewaechse/kelch_u-form.htm#Bitterer Kranzenzian Data sheet and identification key with photos ''Flora-de: Flora von Deutschland''.] * [http://montana.plant-life.org/species/gentianella_amare.htm Datenblatt ''Gentianella amarella'' in ''Montana Plant Life''.]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q159257}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Gentianella|amarella]] [[Category:Plants described in 1753]] [[Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]