{"id":236,"date":"2024-05-01T16:32:39","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T23:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/?p=236"},"modified":"2025-05-01T11:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T18:50:11","slug":"arctic-gentian-gentiana-algida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/2024\/05\/01\/arctic-gentian-gentiana-algida\/","title":{"rendered":"Arctic gentian (Gentiana algida)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Some flowers slowly rotate to track the sun, while others may close and reopen overnight. But the Arctic gentian has derived a neat trick to close its flowers ahead of summer rain showers. The plant is able to detect sudden drops in the temperature of its tubular corolla caused by clouds or cooling air temperatures that precede daily afternoon thunderstorms in its high mountain habitat. Closing its flowers prevents rain drops from dislodging pollen from the anthers, or having the pollen become sticky and clumped. Wet flowers are also less attractive to the plant\u2019s pollinators (mostly large bumblebees). Once the rain has stopped and sunlight returns, the flowers slowly re-open as if nothing had happened, but with their pollen nice and dry and ready for dispersal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mike Bynum and William Smith, researchers from the University of Wyoming, conducted lab and field experiments that demonstrated that arctic gentian\u2019s floral closure was not due to changes in solar irradiance, wind, or humidity. The scientists also found that flowers that were forced to remain open (with tiny wax paper cones inserted inside the corolla!) experienced a 34-59% decrease in the amount of available pollen and significant reduction in the number of viable seeds produced and their germination success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arctic gentians (also known as whitish gentian) can be recognized by their basal clump of narrow, grass-like leaves and large, mostly white to yellowish flowers with irregular purple blotches or streaks. The tubular corolla can be up to 2 inches long and is characterized by 5 short lobes alternating with 5 raised pleats. It is found in arctic tundra from Siberia to Alaska and the Yukon, and then again on alpine peaks in the central and southern Rocky Mountains from SW Montana and western Wyoming to northern New Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The specimen shown here was collected by the Ownbey Herbarium\u2019s namesake, Marion Ownbey, from the Medicine Bow Mountains of southeastern Wyoming in 1934, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wyoming. \u2013 Walter Fertig<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"533\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/3476\/2025\/04\/ownbey-gentiana-algida-ws021545-copy_orig.jpg\" alt=\"Arctic gentian (Gentiana algida).\" class=\"wp-image-237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/3476\/2025\/04\/ownbey-gentiana-algida-ws021545-copy_orig.jpg 533w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/3476\/2025\/04\/ownbey-gentiana-algida-ws021545-copy_orig-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/wpcdn.web.wsu.edu\/wp-cas\/uploads\/sites\/3476\/2025\/04\/ownbey-gentiana-algida-ws021545-copy_orig-100x150.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some flowers slowly rotate to track the sun, while others may close and reopen overnight. But the Arctic gentian has derived a neat trick to close its flowers ahead of summer rain showers. The plant is able to detect sudden drops in the temperature of its tubular corolla caused by clouds or cooling air temperatures [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":237,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbs.wsu.edu\/ownbeyherbarium\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}