As one field guide put it, Seaside Gentian has "conspicuous" bell-shaped flowers. The flowers, which grow to about 1 1/2" across, blossom in solitary or few-flowered terminal clusters. The 5 petals are united at the base, forming a short tube, and they flare out into wide lobes with pointy tips. They are conspicuous not for their shape or size or number, or even their, ahem, bell-bottom petals. They are conspicuous for their colors.
Seaside Gentian flowers range from pink to lavender to purple, with different shades in each flower. Those I found in a southern Louisiana nature preserve were shades of purple. The outer half of the petal was a lighter shade while the part of the petal curving into the tube was splashed with dark purple. A band of white separated the two shades. The tube itself was green, with the orange and yellow dangly bits sticking out like rabbit ears atop of a 1960's television. (But there was no need to adjust the picture.)
To call these flowers conspicuous is a bit like saying the universe has a lot of elbow room. They were skinny model-on-the runway stunning. They were Joseph's-Coat-of-Many-Colors beautiful. They were peace-love-dove psychedelic.
Seaside Gentian can be found from Florida into Texas, in saline and fresh water marshes and sandy coastal areas. They grow up to 3' tall, and though they bloom throughout the year, they flower mainly from May into October. That these flowers are a work of 60's op-art is really not so surprising for Gentians generally are, in a more archaic vernacular, fetching.
Many Gentians, which I wrote about last fall in "Keep An Out for Gentian", come in shades of blue and purple, but there is also a group of them that come in a kind of disco-pink. These are all members of the Sabatia genus, and include Rose-pink (S. angularis), Large Marsh-pink (S. dodecandra), Slender or Bog Marsh-pink (S. campanulata), and Salt-marsh or Sea-pink (S. stellaris). In addition to being so darned pink, all have yellow centers lined with dark red, and yellow-orange stamens. They put on quite a show in damp and marshy places, and are as colorful and bold as the shaggiest shag carpet to come out the 70's. They are nearly psychedelic, but not quite. In the Gentian clan, that honor is reserved for Seaside Gentian.
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