Mountain or Appalachian gentian

Dasystephana decora (Pollard) Small

Herbs perennial, 1.5–6 dm, puberulent on stems and calyx tubes. Stems 1–4, terminal from caudex, decumbent to erect. Leaves cauline, ± evenly spaced or somewhat more widely spaced distally; distal blades lance-elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 3–10 cm × 7–40 mm, apex acute to acuminate; proximal blades oblanceolate to obovate, apex obtuse to acute. Inflorescences ± dense 1–15-flowered cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes or on short branches. Flowers: calyx 10–20 mm, lobes ± erect, subulate to linear or occasionally oblanceolate, 2–8(–12) mm, margins ciliate; corolla white to pale or occasionally medium blue or violet, tubular, loosely closed to fully but narrowly open, 25–45 mm, lobes ovate-triangular, 3–6 mm, longer than plicae, free portions of plicae divided 1/2 or more of their length into 2 unequal, ± triangular, lacerate segments, narrower segment usuallly deflexed; anthers connate. Seeds winged. 2n = 26.

Flowering fall. Mesic woods, roadsides; 600–1600 m; Ga., Ky., N.C., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

Hybrids of Gentiana decora with G. austromontana, G. clausa, and G. saponaria are known.