September 15th, 2012. We drove over
Patterson Gap Road from Betty’s Creek Road to Persimmon Road. Patterson Gap
lies on the Tennessee Valley Divide in the Chattahoochee National Forest. The
road is graveled and water erosion has produced some rough sections.
Our first find was Lobelia siphilitca (Great Blue Lobelia). Further up the road – at about 2,900 ft asl -
we started to see gentians. We spotted Gentiana saponaria (Soapwort Gentian) on
an embankment above the road; why do they always grow on steep embankments
above the road? I scrambled part way up
to take some photos and then spotted a few plants of Gentianella quinquefolia
(Agueweed or Stiff Gentian). This flower is easy to identify by its clusters of
characteristically shaped flowers. I must say I had expected larger flowers.
Plants on the embankment. A couple
of flowers on the plant to the left have opened.
Views of clusters of flowers. The
leaves are ‘soft’ compared with leaves of Gentiana sp.
I
thought this was the best view we would get of these flowers. We drove a little
further up the road and found several plants growing at the edge of the road.
The tallest of these plants was
about 30 inches.
A closer view of the top cluster of
flowers
Views of the top cluster from
different angles
A close-up view of the top cluster
The calyx lobes of this species
Gentianella quinquefolia
(Agueweed or Stiff Gentian) is native to the United States where it’s found in states along
the eastern seaboard from Maine to Georgia and including West Virginia and
Tennesee. It is distributed more widely than indicated; it grows in Illinois
and Missouri. In Georgia, it’s been documented only in a few counties,
including Rabun County, in the northeast of the state.
Click
on an image to view a larger image
Identification
resources:
Natural
and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Gentianella quinquefolia (Fivefinger Gentian, Eastern Agueweed,Stiff Gentian)
Missouri
Plants: Gentianella quinquefolia
Illinois
Wildflowers: Stiff Gentian (Gentianella quinquefolia)
Distribution:
United
States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Gentianella quinquefolia (Agueweed)
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