Gentiana vernicosa Cheeseman
Type locality: Mount Lockett, north of Mount Arthur. Type: A, 7269·1, F. G. Gibbs, March 1903.
Perennial with long slender root crowned by us. branched stock emitting 1-5 stout margined stems, decumbent, then ascending to erect, 10-25 cm. long. Basal lvs ∞ in compact tufts; lamina narrow-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 10-35 × 3-8 mm., subacuminate, dark green, glossy above, thick towards apex, sessile by broad base. Cauline lvs ∞, crowded towards base of branch; lamina ± 20 × 4 mm., acute; upper in distant pairs, similar but smaller. Fls 12-20 mm. diam., in 2-7-fld terminal umbels or corymbose cymes. Bracts ± 15 × 5 mm., similar to upper cauline lvs, apiculate. Pedicels slender, c. 10 mm. long. Calyx c. 8-9 mm. long; lobes subulate to lanceolate, acute or subacute, sinus narrow. Corolla 12-20 mm. diam., white, cut ± 3/4 way into obovate-oblong obtuse lobes.
DIST.: S. Higher montane to subalpine grassland and herbfield, N.W. to S.W. Nelson to upper Awatere drainage area.
