Biology
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Early gentian flowers during May and June, but can appear as early as April and persist as late as July.
Conservation
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Early gentian is listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP), and included in English Nature's Species Recovery Programme. There is some doubt as to whether this plant is genetically different to G. uliginosa and another closely related species G. amarella. The latest indications are that G. anglica is the same species as G. uliginosa and, therefore, all three taxa - G. anglica, G. uliginosa and G. amarella - may be considered as one species. However, further analysis is required before this can be proved conclusively but, in the meantime, suitable habitat management advice is being provided to managers of sites where early gentian occurs. This includes setting careful grazing densities between April and October, to aim for an average sward height of about three centimetres, and bare soil amounting to 5% of the total area.
Description
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This attractive plant has the typical 'trumpet-shaped' flowers characteristic of its family, which are purple with fine white hairs on the inside of the bell, and up to 16 mm long. The leaves are narrow and spear-shaped, and grow from the main stem with no stalks of their own. This particular subspecies is often branched at the base.
Habitat
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This species is found on grazed chalk grassland, but a similar species G. uliginosa is found in the depressions, known as slacks, behind coastal sand dunes. Early gentian was also recorded from dunes on the north Devon coast, but is now believed to be extinct there.
Range
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Early gentian is endemic to the UK, and during the period between 1987 and 1999, it was recorded on 69 10km squares. The centre of distribution is around Wiltshire, Dorset and the Isle of Wight. There is one subspecies, which is declining in central England and the Midlands, and has not been seen at one site in north Devon since 1995, although it could still re-appear.
Status
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Classified as Nationally scarce in the UK, and protected under Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, as amended 2002.
Threats
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The loss of much of England's chalk grassland and changes in grazing practices for this habitat has seriously reduced the populations of early gentian.
Gentianella anglica
provided by wikipedia EN
Gentianella anglica, the early gentian,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the genus Gentianella, native to Great Britain.[2] Gentianella anglica is endemic to Great Britain and its centre of distribution is in Dorset, Wiltshire, and the Isle of Wight.[1]
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.[3]
Distribution and habitat
This gentian is endemic 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.[4] It favours moderately-closely grazed pasture, preferably grazed by cattle kept extensively.[1]
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.[4] 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 has assessed its conservation status as data deficient.[1]
References
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Gentianella anglica: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
Gentianella anglica, the early gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Gentianella, native to Great Britain. Gentianella anglica is endemic to Great Britain and its centre of distribution is in Dorset, Wiltshire, and the Isle of Wight.
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