Single Record
Participant Info
- Species
- Pneumonanthe affinis [Gentiana affinis] [Gentiana bigelovii] [Dasystephana affinis]
- Family
- Gentianaceae
- CommonName
- Rocky Mountain gentian
- Presence
- YES
- Status
- native
- EarliestDate
- 1928
- LatestDate
- 2017
- Ecosystem
- basin, shrubland, foothill, montane, subalpine
- Geobotanical
- Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos, UBasin
- Counties
- Conejos, Costilla, Saguache
- Passes
- Cumbres, La Manga, La Veta, Spring Creek
- WildlifePreserves
- Baca
- Other Localities
- La Botica
- Comments
- Pneumonanthe affinis, found typically in montane or subalpine meadows, has less than 10 collections from the Watershed, although from both sides of the Valley. Examples are near Spectacle Lake i(Conejos Co, 1982), 3 miles east of La Manga Pass (Conejos Co, 1985), top of La Veta pass (Costilla Co, 1992), Baca Nation Wildlife Refuge (Saguache Co, 2012), Buffalo Pass campground (Saguache Co, 2017). Judging from the voucher photos labeled Pneumoanthe affinis [Gentiana affinis], some may be Pneumonanthe parryi. Distinguishing the two species is often not easy. P. affinis has many varieties, spread across all the states west of the Great Plains, as well as across the northern Great Plains themselves. It follows the Rio Grande drainage of New Mexico nearly to the Mexican border but not farther down stream. Note that the new genus name, Pneumonanthe, is supported by DNA analysis reported in Yong-Ming Yuan et al. (2019)—but many authorities, including SEINet and BONAP still treat the taxon as Gentiana. Note also that Ackerfield (2022) separates Gentiana affinis from G. bigelovii, while POWO combines them into one species. FNA treats as synonymous G. affinis var. affinis and G. affinis var. bigelovii.
- Annotation