Botany Photo of the Day will have brief written entries on weekends, holidays and my vacations from April through September. – Daniel
Today’s photograph is courtesy of Dawn Endico (Dawn’s photos on Flickr | original | BPotD Flickr Group Pool). Thank you, Dawn. For those of you interested in identifying flowers you might encounter in the wild within North America, Dawn has created a handy visual identification tool for North American wildflowers.
Whitish gentian or arctic gentian is found in alpine areas of western North America and east Asia. From Alaska, its range extends southwards to New Mexico; from Siberia, it reaches south to Sikkim. Plant-life.org has a summary description of Gentiana algida, while the Flora of China has its usual taxonomic account.
Gentian violet on the other hand has an indelible purple hue one of the most extreme and stable colours used as a lab stain in medicine and as actual tx of oral candidiasis or trush mainly in infants.
Is there a photo of it on this site?
If you really want to go wild with gentian info check out this website: http://gentian.rutgers.edu/index.htm
“The Gentian Research Network is a free, not-for-profit, web-based forum for worldwide research on the natural history and evolution of the flowering plant family Gentianaceae (gentians).”
Actually, it turns out “Gentian violet” the dye is named for it’s color and is derived from coal tar, not from gentians. See here:
http://gentian.rutgers.edu/GentianViolet.htm
Thank you Dawn and Daniel! Another extraordinary plant being new to me! Love it’s biogeography: what a totally cool bi-continental range!
fine picture thnk you dawn
i just came back from your
page on american wild flowers
then went to rutgers read about
that purple stuff they used on
on me when i was little wonder
i made it this far thank you george l
thank you daniel dawns page is great
and so much work and time
Thank you for the link to Dawn’s flower identification tool. What a great idea! I have bookmarked the site for future use and enjoyment!
I am so pleased to see this gentian. What a wonder for me. I only know of the purple ones.
It is a great photograph and I feel greatful to see it.
Thank You,Margaret-Rae
the markings on that gentian are stunning. thank you for highlighting it today!