Participant Info

Species

Gentianella acuta [Gentiana acuta] [Gentianella amarella subsp. acuta] [Gentianella strictiflora]

Family

Gentianaceae

CommonName

little gentian

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1890

LatestDate

2019

Ecosystem

basin, shrubland, foothill, montane, subalpine, tundra

Geobotanical

SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos, UBasin, LBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan

Passes

Cochetopa, Grayback, Hayden, Spring Creek, Stony, Wolf Creek

WildlifePreserves

Baca, Big Meadows Reservoir

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Hinsdale Co, Big North Clear Creek Falls 8 Aug 2015 [var. heterosepala]

Comments

Little gentian is a very common flower around the Watershed, growing in mesic conditions in a wide variety of habitats—open meadow, forest edge, stream side, etc. The two Lower Basin specimens were collected by the side of streams. It and Gentianella heterosepala together have been recorded from every state west of the Great Plains. It follows the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico to the border with Mexico but no farther. With this species, the nomenclature is still fluid. BONAP, for instance, treats G. acuta as G. amarella. According to Allred et al. (2020), one quarter of New Mexico herbarium vouchers identified as "G. heterosepala" or "G. acuta subsp. heterosepala" are G. acuta.

Annotation