Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Gentianella muelleriana

Flowers and flower buds (subsp. alpestris). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer B Clarke, Australian National Botanic Gardens Nursery, Canberra, ACT

Flowering plant (subsp. alpestris). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Colin Totterdell, Kosciuszko National Park

Flowers (subsp. jingerensis). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Namadgi National Park

Flowering plant (subsp. jingerensis). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Namadgi National Park

Common name

Mueller's Snow-gentian

Family

Gentianaceae

Where found

subsp. alpestris:  Damp to wet grassland and herbfields. Kosciuszko National Park and nearby.

subsp. jingerensis:  Swampy heath and damp to wet grassland and herbfields. Bimberi and Brindabella Ranges, on the western edge of the ACT and nearby.

Notes

Perennial herb to 0.4 m high. Stems 4-angled, hairless, green or shining reddish purple. Leaves basal and opposite each other on the stems, basal leaves 1-10 cm long, 4–8 mm wide, tips blunt to pointed. Flowers white to cream with fine bluish or pale purple veins, 25-35 mm in diameter, with a broadly bell-shaped tube 2.5-4 mm long, and 5 lobes. Anthers purplish. Flowers in clusters of  1-15 flowers. Flowers summer-autumn.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Gentianella~muelleriana (accessed 22 January, 2021)

subsp. alpestris:  Flowering stems 8-30 cm high. Stem at the base of the plant more or less rhizomatous, multi-branched; the branches to 10 cm long, bearing clusters of the current years flowering stems at the top. Leaf scars from earlier years and occasionally the remains of the previous year's flower stems on the stem at the base of the plant. Basal leaves 1-7 cm long. Flowers with a broadly bell-shaped tube about 3-4 mm long, and 5 lobes 11-12 mm long. Flowers in loose clusters of 1-9 flowers. Flowers Feb-Mar.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Gentianella~muelleriana+subsp.~alpestris  (accessed 22 January, 2021)

subsp. jingerensis:  Flowering stems 15-40 cm high. Stem at the base of the plant usually robust, very shortly branched at the top. Basal leaves to 10 cm long. Flowers with a broadly bell-shaped tube about 3-4 mm long, and 5 lobes 13-15 mm long. Flowers in rather dense clusters of 8-15 flowers. Flowers Jan-Mar.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Gentianella~muelleriana+subsp.~jingerensis  (accessed 22 January, 2021)