A Blue Gentian

My friend Bill called me over to his place today so we could take a walk to a wet, boggy area near his property that has some impressive bottle gentians in bloom. Such a cool wildflower! A unique characteristic of the flowers of the bottle gentian is that they never completely open. This wildflower prefers very moist, fen-type environments and is found throughout the entire northeastern portion of the United States and extending into the upper mid-west.