Plain Gentian, Cream Gentian, pale gentian, yellow gentian, Gentiana flavida, Gentiana alba Muhl., Native Minnesota Wildflower plant, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

(Cream Gentian, pale gentian, yellowish gentian) A Gentian whose tube shaped almost white, cream colored flowers remain mostly closed at the tip - very small opening - with irregular folds between the petals. Flowers can also be slightly yellowish but it is usually a creamy white. They are 1 1/4" to 2" long in a cluster that is usually not branched. The clusters appear at the top of the stout erect stem and sometimes also in stem clusters at the leaf axils. Leaves are a yellow green in full sun. It is similar in appearance to the blue flowered Closed Gentian except for the flower color. The genus Gentiana is named after King Gentius of Illyria who discovered that the roots of certain Gentian species have medicinal qualities. The species name alba is Latin for "white."

	Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Prime Season
	Plain Gentian	Gentiana alba Muhl. ex Nutt. [Gentaina flavida still preferred by some]	Gentian (Gentianaceae)	Upland	Late Summer into Autumn
Other names and notes	(Cream Gentian, pale gentian, yellowish gentian) A Gentian whose tube shaped almost white, cream colored flowers remain mostly closed at the tip - very small opening - with irregular folds between the petals. Flowers can also be slightly yellowish but it is usually a creamy white. They are 1 1/4" to 2" long in a cluster that is usually not branched. The clusters appear at the top of the stout erect stem and sometimes also in stem clusters at the leaf axils. Leaves are a yellow green in full sun. It is similar in appearance to the blue flowered Closed Gentian except for the flower color. The genus Gentiana is named after King Gentius of Illyria who discovered that the roots of certain Gentian species have medicinal qualities. The species name alba is Latin for "white."