Centaurium

  • Authority

    Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

  • Family

    Gentianaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Centaurium

  • Description

    Description - Herbs, mostly annual or biennial, with sessile or amplexicaul leaves, and pink white or yellow flowers in cymes or spikes. Calyx tubular, 5-4-lobed or -divided, the lobes or segments narrow, keeled. Corolla salverform, 5-4-lobed, the lobes spreading, contorted, convolute in the bud. Stamens 5 or 4, inserted on the corolla tube; filaments short-filiform; anthers becoming spirally twisted. Ovary 1-celled., the placentae sometimes intruded; style filiform; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved. Seed-coat reticulated. [Latin, 100 gold pieces, referring to supposed medicinal value.] About 25 species, both in the Old World and the Xew. Type species: Gentiana Centaurium L.