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.

Habit: Perennial herb; non-flowering rosettes appearing with flower-stems. Leaf: basal +- petioled; cauline generally (sub)opposite or some alternate, < basal, bases not fused-sheathing. Inflorescence: cyme or panicle of dense clusters. Flower: parts generally in 5s, sometimes in 4s; calyx fused near base, lobes lanceolate; corolla rotate (bell-shaped), lobes >> tube, ridge between stamens fringed or scaled or neither, nectary pits prominent, 2 per lobe, margins of openings +- fringed; ovary sessile, style short, poorly differentiated, persistent, entire, stigmas 2.
Etymology: (E. Sweert, Swert, or Sweerts, Dutch botanist, florist, herbalist, artist, 1552--1612) Note: Other taxa in TJM (1993) moved to Frasera.
eFlora Treatment Author: Bruce G. Baldwin
Reference: von Hagen & Kadereit 2002 Syst Bot 27:548--572
Unabridged Reference: St. John 1941 Amer Midl Naturalist 21:1--29