Scientific name: Gentiana verna L.
Common name: Spring Gentian
Description
Habit: A hairless perennial, to 10 cm high.
Stems: Erect, unbranched.
Leaves: Undivided, entire, stalkless and oval, crowded in a basal leaf-rosette.
Flowers: Blue, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, solitary, 25 mm across; calyx a tube about 1 cm long, brown, strongly 5-angled, with 5 linear-triangular lobes; corolla fused to form a 2 cm tube with 5 spreading lobes, with forked scales between main lobes; stamens attached to the corolla and alternate with the corolla lobes; ovary superior.
Fruits: A capsule, cylindrical and narrow, with small seeds.
Habitat: Limestone pavement, pastures and stabilised dunes.Distribution: Frequent on the Burren, widespread but less frequent on Aran islands, occasional on the limestone elsewhere.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No