''Gentiana verna'', the spring gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, and one of its smallest members, normally only growing to a height of a few centimetres. The short stem supports up to three opposing pairs of elliptical or lanceolate leaves. The conspicuous vivid blue (sometimes purplish-red or rarely white) flowers are 1–2 cm in diameter, with a deeply five-lobed corolla; they are produced in late spring to early summer. The flowers attract butterflies and bees (particularly bumblebees) for

pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...

. Ants are responsible for the spreading of its seeds.

Distribution

''G. verna'' is one of the most widespread gentians, found on sunny alpine meadows throughout Eurasia, from Ireland to Russia. It is common in central and southeastern Europe, such as in low mountain ranges like the Jura and

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

, and up to an altitude of . It is also to be found in mountainous regions ranging from the

High Atlas High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas ( ar, الأطلس الكبير, Al-Aṭlas al-Kabīr; french: Haut Atlas; shi, ⴰⴷⵔⴰⵔ ⵏ ⴷⵔⵏ ''Adrar n Dern''), is a mountain range in central Morocco, North Africa, the highest part of t ...

of Morocco to the mountains of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. In northern Europe, it is very rare, confined to

Teesdale Teesdale is a dale, or valley, in Northern England. The dale is in the River Tees’s drainage basin, most water flows stem from or converge into said river, including the Skerne and Leven. Upper Teesdale, more commonly just Teesdale, falls b ...

in northern England and a handful of locations in western

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It tends to thrive on dry meadows with

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

y soil; it is also known to grow in silicaceous soils. Its scarcity has led to protection in a number of European countries as an endangered species.

Symbolism

It is the

county flower In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

in the United Kingdom. It was first found in Britain by the botanist John Harriman. A drawing of ''Gentiana verna'' by Holly Somerville is the logo for the botany department in Trinity College Dublin. ''Gentiana verna'' appeared on the design of a Great Britain stamp, issued in 1964 to mark the 10th

International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is an international meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS) and held every six years, with the location rotati ...

held in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. Writer and botanist Stevan Jakovljević eulogized the flower in its Latin name at the end of his trilogy ''Srpska trilogija'' which writes of the

Serbian soldiers Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation) ...

who died during the Battle of Kajmakčalan and the Macedonian front during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(the flower grows on the soldiers' graves in the mountains of Kajmakčalan). The flower is associated with the Alps, and gave its name to the trans-Alpine '' Blauer Enzian'' ("Blue Gentian") express train between Germany and Austria. Saturday, 24 August 2019

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q159389 verna Alpine flora Flora of Europe Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Flora of the Pyrenees Flora of the Alps Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus