Gentians are leafy herbs, and usually have showy bell- or trumpet-shaped flowers. The flowers are often a lovely shade of blue, with pink being the predominant color in one genus. Given their shape, they are obviously radially symmetrical. They have 4 or 5 sepals, which are sometimes united, sometimes not. They have 5 petals, which are always united, and 5 stamens. All the parts are attached at the base of the ovary. Leaves are simple and opposite.
There are about 1,000 species of Gentians in about 75 genera. They grow in a variety of habitats in temperate and subtropical regions. I have run into them in central Ohio, southern Lousiana, the Sierra Nevada Mts., and in and on Mt. Rainier, in Washington.
Every gentian I've walked up on has been a surprise, or maybe I should say every gentian I've ever seen I've walked up on, and boy what a surprise.
I've walked up on a few of the blue ones in the genus Gentiana. It is this genus I think of when I think of gentians. It includes Marsh Gentian (G. affinis), Bottle Gentian (G. andrewsii), Pine-Barren Gentian (G. autumnalis), Explorers Gentian (G. calycosa), Fringed Gentian (G. crinita), Newberry's Gentian (G. newberryi), Downy Gentian (G. puberula), Soapwort Gentian (G. saponaria), and Hikers Gentian (G. simplex). Newberry's Gentian has both a blue and white form; I happened upon a patch of the white form in a wet meadow in the Sierra Nevadas above Truckee, California. All the others listed have wonderfully blue trumpet-shaped flowers, and are somewhat of a treasure as many of the species are less than three-feet tall and, until or unless you notice those blue blossoms, are just more of the greenery.
Another very striking species I have walked up on was not of the Gentiana genus. This was Seaside Gentian (Eustoma exaltatum), which I found in southern Louisiana. Its flowers were larger than those of the Gentiana genus, and perhaps even lovelier. They were cup-shaped and lavender-colored, with a darker wine stain splashed on a white band at the base of the petals.
Flowers of the Centaurium genus resemble Phlox species, with their bright pink corolla; Centaury (C. calycosum), Monterey Centaury (C. muhlenbergii), and Charming Centaury (C. venustum) all have these pink or shades of pink, trumpet-shaped flowers. They are bit like stars in the botany, and every bit as eye-catching as the blues of Gentiana.
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