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.
Centaurium erythraea Rafn
NATURALIZED Habit: Plant (3)20--60 cm. Leaf: basal generally rosetted, 15--70 mm, obovate to widely elliptic, rounded; cauline 8--50 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, acute. Inflorescence: dense, +- flat-topped; flowers sessile, immediately subtended by 2 bracts. Flower: corolla lobes 4.5--8 mm. Chromosomes: 2n=42. Ecology: Fields, roadsides; Elevation: < 200 m. Bioregional Distribution: NCo (esp near Crescent City, Eureka, Fort Bragg); Distribution Outside California: to British Columbia, eastern North America; native to Eurasia. Flowering Time: Jul--Sep Jepson eFlora Author: James S. Pringle Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Centaurium Next taxon: Centaurium pulchellum
Botanical illustration including Centaurium erythraea
Citation for this treatment: James S. Pringle 2012, Centaurium erythraea, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=18573, accessed on April 18, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 18, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Centaurium erythraea:
NCo (esp near Crescent City, Eureka, Fort Bragg)
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
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