Tulip Gentian   
Foto info
Tulip Gentian
P Introduced Herb
Photo: Ajinkya Gadave
Common name: Tulip Gentian, Lisianthus, Texas Bluebell, Prairie Gentian
Botanical name: Eustoma grandiflorum    Family: Gentianaceae (Gentian family)
Synonyms: Lisianthus russellianus, Bilamista grandiflora

Tulip Gentian is native to the warmer reagions of North America, and is found in the prairie grasslands from Colorado to Nebraska and down to Texas. It grows to about 15-inches-tall used and has a spectacular blue-green foliage. Tulip Gentian has wonderful flowers which are either simple or double, and blue to rose-red depending on the variety. The flowers usually are blue color but the well-bred varieties come in blue, lavender, and various shades of pink, white, white with a purple center and white with a pink or lavender rim. Some flowers have doubled petals and look much like roses. The leaf is ovate, simple and arranged oppositely. The plant however bears no fruit. Tulip Gentian flower grows in part shade/part sun. It is tolerant to acidic; slightly alkaline; sand; loam and clay soils. It tolerates drought moderately.
Identification credit: Ajinkya Gadave
Photographed in Pune, Maharashtra.

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