Subalpine, alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer, fall.
Eagle Peak Trail, August 18, 2007.

Mountain Gentian is found scattered in meadows where it pokes out of grasses with its brilliant blue/purple flower.  The five petals are separated by unusual, slightly toothed projections.  Plants range from a few inches tall on alpine tundra to eighteen inches tall on richer soils in subalpine meadows.  Flower petals may be rounded or pointed.

Sunshine opens the tightly closed flower wide and deep, giving it a second common name, "Bottle Gentian".  "Pneumo" is Greek for "the wind" or "lungs" and "anthus" is Greek for "flower". 

Nineteenth century botanist Charles Parry made the first collection of this plant in Colorado in 1862 and George Engelmann named the plant Gentiana parryi  in 1863.  Edward Greene renamed the plant Pneumonanthe parryi in 1904.  Parry is honored in the names of dozens of plants.  (Click for more biographical information about Parry.)

Subalpine, alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer, fall.
Eagle Peak Trail, August 18, 2007.

Subalpine, alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer, fall.
Navajo Lake Trail, Lizard Head Wilderness, August 30, 2007.

Gentiana parryi flower color is very consistently blue/purple, so we were pleasantly surprised to find this lovely lilac flower along the Navajo Lake Trail.

Subalpine, alpine.  Meadows, openings.  Summer, fall.
Horse Creek Trail, August 24, 2004; Spiller/Helmet Mountains Ridge, August 20, 2009; and Wilson Meadow Trail, September 15, 2010.

Flowers are in terminal clusters, usually in groups of three-to-five, and are subtended by the leaf-like bracts which enclosed them in bud stage.  (One bud enclosed in bracts can be seen poking up from behind the flower at right in the top photograph.)

The second from the bottom photograph takes a peek at the lovely spotting of the interior that surrounds the pistil and stamens.

The final photograph shows that it pays to look at flowers even when they appear withered.  I peeled open the withered flower which looked like the strip at far left in the last photograph.  I found that the interior surface of the withered flower petals was still colorful and surrounded a large, ripening seed, which was also surrounded by the still-evident stamens.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Gentiana parryi