Gentiana affinis var. ovata

Oregon gentian, Oregon Gentian

Family: Gentianaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 3

Oregon gentian is a California native perennial found in northern coastal, Klamath Ranges, high Cascade Range, central coastal, San Francisco Bay, and Warner Mountains regions in meadows and shrubby places at elevations below 2,300 meters. Flowering from July to August, this plant produces blue (occasionally white) flowers 25 to 45 millimeters long with distinctive corolla lobes and deeply divided appendages. Growing with decumbent to erect stems 5 to 70 centimeters tall that are puberulent and emerge from a caudex, it develops multiple stems in a single cluster. Its cauline leaves range from 10 to 45 millimeters long, varying from elliptic to ovate, with lower leaves shorter than stem internodes and upper leaves longer, featuring minutely ciliate margins. The plant produces winged seeds and develops between 1 to 7 flowers in terminal and upper node clusters.

Habitat: Meadows, shrubby places

Bloom period: Jul-Aug

Elevation: < 2300 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, CaRH, CCo, SnFrB, Wrn

California counties: Marin, Del Norte, Modoc, Lassen, Placer, Trinity, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Alpine

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.