Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Botany picture #257: Gentianella aspera


Has it been that long since I posted the last botany picture? With my mind still on the mountains, here is a European gentian, Gentianella aspera (Gentianaceae), European Alps, 2004. Although sometimes split off into their own genus, the Australian gentians are phylogenetically also Gentianella.

One thing that I found strange about the Australian ones, by the way, is that they are generally white, because the European gentians are rather famously blue, violet, or very rarely yellow. There is even an obnoxious German Schlager song making that point, with the first line of the chorus translating as "blue, blue, blue blooms the gentian".

WARNING: follow that link at your own risk.

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