A threatened Georgia wildflower needs your help. Gentianopsis crinita or Fringed Gentian is extremely rare in North Georgia. It lives in only a few locations in Towns and Union Counties.

The future of Fringed Gentian in Georgia is threatened by habitat destruction, lack of adequate sunlight, and improper roadside maintenance (mowing, herbicides, and damage by heavy equipment). How you can help save the Fringed Gentian from extinction in Georgia?

• Support management practices where Fringed Gentian occurs that are beneficial to this light-loving plant: control of woody vegetation through timber removal, prescribed burning, or mowing.
• Do not mow where Fringed Gentian occurs from mid-July through January.
• Report occurrences of Fringed Gentian on your property to receive management advice. Note: Landowners are under no legal obligation to report, protect, or manage threatened plants. Landowners are encouraged to participate in Fringed Gentian's protection by allowing monitoring (photos, flower counts) of these wildflowers on their property.
• Discourage flower picking and removal of plants, flowers or seeds.The plants persist only by their seeds.

For more information or to report Fringed Gentian on your property, please contact the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance.

Gentianopsis seeds in germination medium

FRINGED GENTIAN'S NATURAL HISTORY

As biennial herbs, Fringed Gentians live for two years. They flower only in their second season. First-year plants are quite small (ground level and up to 2 inches wide) and lack flowers. Second-year plants are 1 to 3 feet tall.

The flowers are iridescent blue on long stalks. They have four finely fringed petals approximately 2 to 3 inches long. The flowering period is from late September to early November. Fruits develop November through January. Seed germinate following a cold season.

Because the Fringed Gentian only opens in direct sun, it is best spotted on bright sunny days during the peak of flowering. It's found in shallow, near-neutral soils, in damp, sunny meadows associated with magnesium rich rock (amphibolite, serpentine), and often spreads and persists in nearby disturbed grassy areas on roadsides, and under powerlines.

Its range is from the southern Appalachian Mountains north into New England and west to Manitoba and Iowa. It is uncommon in much of its range, and is very rare in the Southeast.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

"It (Fringed Gentian) came very near not being an inhabitant of our latitude, perhaps our globe, at all."—Thoreau

The Fringed Gentian's fleeting, exquisite beauty has had the attention of artists and poets for hundreds of years. It has inspired well known 19th century writers such as William Cullen Bryant, Emily Dickinson, and Henry David Thoreau. In 1964, Fringed Gentian was first discovered in North Georgia. It was designated as State Protected (Threatened) in 1992.

Fringed Gentian is in the Gentian Family (Gentianaceae), which is known for its medicinal value. The Fringed Gentian potentially has medicinal properties.