In A World of Blue: More Delightful Chinese Discoveries!

While deeply entrenched in my latest botanical read, ‘Guide to the Flowers of Western China,’ I am discovering an increasing number of new and exciting species within some of my favourite genera. A leisurely perusal of the section on Gentianaceae, reveals a divine handful of choice selections that would do any obsessed connoisseur proud!

Described in the text as, ‘a complex genus with 360 species [248 in China, the majority endemic] also found worldwide excepting Africa and Arabia. The species are again divided into five specific groups. I have added yet more yellow post-it notes to a few that have triggered my radar:

The photo that precedes this post is of Gentiana arethusae [Group Three] which the text describes as ‘… a tufted perennial to 15cm with many ascending, slender stems, with stem leaves congested, usually in whorls of 6, the uppermost forming a ruff at the base of the flowers which are solitary, stalkless, its calyx with linear, leaf-like lobes, its corolla, pale to mid-blue with deeper blue, pencil stripes on the outside. Endemic to alpine meadows, low alpine shrubberies, stony slopes and forest margins. Found in west and southwest Sichuan, southeast Tibet, northwest Yunnan.

Gentiana nubigena [Group Four] is described as, ‘… a tufted perennial to 10cm, rarely more whose leaves appear in the form of basal rosettes. Its flowers appear in terminal clusters, are stalkless, its corolla is dark to purplish blue, often whitish or yellow at the base. Found in Gansu, Qinghai, northwest Sichuan and Tibet in damp alpine meadows, bogs, damp open scrubs, moraine and other rocky places.

Gentiana ternifolia [Group Three] is described as, ‘… it is distinguished from the other species in this group by having most leaves in whorls of three, and by its five lobed corolla lacking the familiar tail like tips to the lobes; its corolla is blue with deeper stripes. It is endemic to the wet meadows of north and northwest Yunnan.

Something tells me that this might also be the year of the tufa trough to house a collection of rockery species of what is without a doubt one of my favourite genera!

**Descriptions are condensed from the text with many thanks to the authors**