''Gentianella anglica'', the early gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''

Gentianella ''Gentianella'' is a plant genus in the gentian family (Gentianaceae). Plants of this genus are known commonly as dwarf gentians. there were about 256 species in this genus. They are herbs that occur in alpine and arctic habitat types. They are ...

'', native to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

. ''Gentianella anglica'' is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to Great Britain and its centre of distribution is in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, and the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

Description

''Gentianella anglica'' is an annual species, similar in appearance to felwort (''Gentianella amarella''), but much shorter. It is a hairless plant with pairs of narrow lanceolate leaves and spikes of long-stalked, purplish, five-petalled flowers with the usually four calyx teeth unequal in size. It flowers from May to June, considerably earlier than felwort.

Distribution and habitat

This gentian is

to Great Britain. It has been known from as far north as Yorkshire, but now it is mainly found on the chalk downs of Dorset, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight. Other locations where it grows include Gloucestershire, Cornwall, the Dorset coast, and limestone quarries at Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire. It also occurs on the coastal grassland at Stackpole in West Wales, a long way from its southern England locations. It favours moderately-closely grazed pasture, preferably grazed by cattle kept extensively.

Status

Population sizes vary greatly from year to year; in Wiltshire and Dorset, some sites have in some years had hundreds of thousands of plants, and in other years, few or none. The seeds can remain viable in the soil for many years. In general, populations are in decline as the old chalk grassland is ploughed up, or fertilised, or remains ungrazed with the production of ranker vegetation, as it cannot compete with more vigorous species. The taxonomy of the plant is uncertain, with some people regarding it as part of a ''Gentianella amarella'' species group, so the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has assessed its conservation status as data deficient.

References

{{Taxonbar , from = Q15562453 anglica Plants described in 1952