Victorin’s gentian, gentiane de Victorin

Gentiana victorinii Fernald, Rhodora 25: 87, plate 139. 1923; Gentianella crinita (Froelich) Berchtold & J. Presl subsp. victorinii (Fernald) J. M. Gillett; Gentianopsis procera (Holm) Ma var. victorinii (Fernald) H. H. Iltis; G. victorinii (Fernald) H. H. Iltis

Herbs (0.2–)1–5 dm. Peduncles (1–)2–13 cm. Flowers 1–5; calyx 12–30 mm, keels minutely or obscurely granular-scabridulous near base; corolla deep blue or rarely white, 20–45 mm, lobes widely ovate-elliptic to orbiculate, 10–20 × 10–12 mm, margins proximally with a few fringes to 1.5 mm or merely dentate to entire, distally dentate to serrate with teeth mostly 1+ mm; gynophore distinct, slender, as long as body of ovary at flowering. 2n = 78.

Flowering late summer–fall. Upper limits of tidal zone of St. Lawrence River; of conservation concern; 0 m; Que.

Subspecies victorinii is endemic to the estuary of the Saint Lawrence River, along about 150 km centered approximately on Quebec City. The subspecies is restricted to a zone where tidal action causes inundation but where the water is fresh. Its habitat is inundated for two to three hours per day during periods of relatively high tides and not inundated during periods of lower tides (J. Rousseau 1932; F. Courson 1998; Environment Canada 2011).

Subspecies victorinii differs from the other subspecies of the species in its widely elliptic to orbiculate corolla lobes, which are rounded at the apex, less than twice as long and often about as long as wide, with the teeth at and near the apex mostly more than 1 mm long. The corolla lobes of the other subspecies are more nearly oblong, more or less truncate, and usually proportionately narrower, with teeth less than 1 mm long. Subspecies victorinii also differs in its distinct, slender style 1–2 mm long and in its relatively slender gynophore about 5 mm or longer at flowering, that is, 0.5–1 times as long as the body of the ovary.