Common Name: GENTIAN FAMILY
Habit: Annual to perennial herb [to trees]. Stem: decumbent to erect, < 2 m, simple or branched. Leaf: simple, cauline, sometimes also basal, opposite or whorled, entire, sessile or basal +- petioled; stipules 0. Flower: bisexual, radial, parts in 4s or 5s except pistil 1; sepals fused, persistent; petals fused, +- persistent, sinus between lobes often unappendaged; stamens epipetalous, alternate corolla lobes; ovary superior, chamber 1, placentas parietal, often intruding, stigmas 1--2. Fruit: capsule, 2-valved. Seed: many.
Genera In Family: +- 90 genera, 1800 species: worldwide; some cultivated (Eustoma, Exacum, Gentiana). Note: Gentianella tenella moved to Comastoma. Key to genera revised by Bruce G. Baldwin.
eFlora Treatment Author: James S. Pringle, except as noted
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.

Common Name: CENTAURY
Habit: Annual, biennial, glabrous. Stem: erect, branched or simple below inflorescence. Leaf: cauline, opposite, also basal or not. Inflorescence: cyme. Flower: parts generally in 5s; calyx lobes >> tube (discounting thin membrane between lobes in Centaurium tenuiflorum), +- appressed to corolla tube; corolla salverform, generally pink, lobes < tube, elliptic-oblong, entire or minutely toothed at tip, scales 0, nectary pits 0 (nectaries elsewhere 0); stamens initially curved to 1 side, dehisced anthers spirally twisted; ovary sessile, style thread-like (much wider than filaments), cleft 0.5--1 mm, deciduous, stigmas 2, elliptic to ovate.
Etymology: (Latin: centaur, mythological discoverer of plants medicinal properties) Note: Native species moved to Zeltnera.