Gentianopsis crinita

{{Short description|Species of plant}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Fringed_Gentian_0001.jpg

|genus = Gentianopsis

|species = crinita

|authority = (Froel.) Ma

}}

Gentianopsis crinita (sometimes called greater fringed gentian or blue gentian) is a biennial herbaceous species, native to eastern USA and eastern Canada.{{PLANTS |symbol=GECR2 |taxon=Gentianopsis crinita}} The flowers of fringed gentian open on sunny days, but generally remain closed on cloudy days. Individual plants live for only one or two years; the plant is noted as having become relatively rare. It grows in moist, limey woods, meadows, and stream banks.{{Cite web|title=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin|url=https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=gecr2|access-date=2022-01-13|website=www.wildflower.org}}

In autumn, solitary, iridescent blue flowers develop on naked peduncles approximately {{cvt|2|to|10|cm|frac=4}} in height. Each finely fringed petal is {{cvt|3.5|to|6|cm|frac=8}} in length. The outermost flower parts are two pairs of green sepals, strongly winged and flared on the basal margins, the outer pair much larger than the inner.

It is closely related to Gentianopsis virgata (Raf.) Holub, which is sometimes lumped within a broadly transcribed G. crinita.{{cite journal |last=Pringle |first=J.S. |date=2004 |title=Notes on the Distribution and Nomenclature of North American Gentianopsis (Gentianaceae) |journal=Sida |volume=21 |issue=2 |pages=525–530}}

According to ancient Roman naturalist Pliny, King Gentius of Illyria found that the roots were useful as an emetic, cathartic, and tonic. From him, the plant's name is derived.{{cite book |last1=Niering |first1=William A. |authorlink1=William Niering| last2=Olmstead |first2=Nancy C. |title=The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region |year=1985 |orig-year=1979|publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-394-50432-1 |page=545}}