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Gentiana verna; photograph (c) Filippo Ceragioli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) CC BY-SA(c) Filippo Ceragioli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-24

Gentiana verna L.

Spring gentian

Gentianaceae · Great Britain, Ireland +21

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Gentiana verna, photograph (c) Olivier Niederhauser, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gentiana verna, photograph (c) Filippo Ceragioli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Gentiana verna, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGentiana verna, photograph (c) xulescu_g, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)Gentiana verna, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedGentiana verna, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 69 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-13.5°C
Record low -24.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
18°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,554mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
8–37DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Gentiana verna, the spring gentian, is a species of flowering plant in the family Gentianaceae, and one of its smallest members, normally only growing to a height of a few centimetres.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gentiana verna", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,090 mm of 1,519 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 18.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to June.

Rain

1,519 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,090 mm of it May to December. Wettest month May at 146 mm, driest month February at 91 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,053 mm to 2,138 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,554 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,519 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 37 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 6, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -13.5 °C, the absolute minimum -24.5 °C, 7,579 frost nights in 44 years, 172.3 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -8.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -15.6 °C to -3.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 18.2 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -13.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +544 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Gentiana verna through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 18 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -8.9 °C; 1,519 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost29.0° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-24.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 8–37RH 59–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1059 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-1 / -7–41 / -5–54 / -2–87 / 1–1212 / 6–1616 / 11–1918 / 14–2218 / 13–2215 / 10–1811 / 5–144 / -2–80 / -7–4
Night °C-9 / -16–-4-8 / -15–-3-5 / -11–-1-3 / -8–22 / -3–66 / 1–108 / 4–128 / 4–125 / 0–91 / -4–5-4 / -11–1-8 / -15–-2
Rain mm108 / 63–16691 / 53–139112 / 66–163118 / 76–163146 / 101–200141 / 89–221136 / 70–242139 / 80–236136 / 91–186135 / 86–188128 / 83–181129 / 77–189
DLI10 / 7–1416 / 13–2125 / 20–3032 / 29–3635 / 33–3937 / 33–4237 / 33–4332 / 28–3825 / 21–2917 / 14–2111 / 8–158 / 6–12
RH %59 / 55–6460 / 56–6361 / 57–6361 / 59–6462 / 60–6462 / 59–6461 / 57–6462 / 57–6463 / 59–6562 / 59–6562 / 58–6661 / 56–65
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1059 grid cells holding the 1293 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 907:3716 (44.625, 5.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -13.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.0 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1059 distinct grid cells holding 1293 of the 1293 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 907:3716 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.50_5.625, lapse-corrected +544 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1498 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreat Britain, Ireland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, France, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, East European Russia, North European Russia, Ukraine, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Iran, Iraq, Turkey · introduced: Central European Russia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker45.765, 6.668 · in the densest population, 912 records (58% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1570 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1293 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1063 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 47 km away. 277 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1570 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Gentiana verna, photograph 1did not loadGentiana verna, photograph 2did not loadGentiana verna, photograph 3did not loadGentiana verna, photograph 4did not loadGentiana verna, photograph 5did not loadGentiana verna, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Olivier Niederhauser, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Filippo Ceragioli, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) xulescu_g, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Veratrum album Veratrum album White false hellebore Photo: CC BY, Wolfgang AhlmerCarduus defloratus Carduus defloratus Alpine Thistle Photo: CC BY, Antoine ThivolleAthamanta cretensis Athamanta cretensis Candy Carrot Photo: CC BY, Antoine ThivolleClinopodium alpinum Clinopodium alpinum Rock Thyme Photo: CC BY, Edmundas GreimasDraba aizoides Draba aizoides Yellow Whitlowgrass Photo: CC0, author not statedArabis ciliata Arabis ciliata Fringed Rockcress Photo: CC BY, Drepanostoma

Other Gentiana 103 in the reference

Gentiana acaulis Gentiana acaulis Gentian Photo: CC BY, Antoine ThivolleGentiana affinis Gentiana affinis Pleated gentian Photo: CC0, author not statedGentiana alba Gentiana alba Gentianaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGentiana algida Gentiana algida Whitish gentian Photo: CC0, author not statedGentiana alpina Gentiana alpina Southern gentian Photo: CC BY, Antoine MARNATGentiana andrewsii Gentiana andrewsii Andrews' bottle gentian Photo: CC BY, FunkyRatGentiana angustifolia Gentiana angustifolia Gentianaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedGentiana arethusae Gentiana arethusae Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Philippe.pechouxGentiana arisanensis Gentiana arisanensis Alishan gentian Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Gentiana asclepiadea Gentiana asclepiadea Willow gentian Photo: CC BY, Flavien SaboureauGentiana autumnalis Gentiana autumnalis Pine barren gentian Photo: CC0, author not statedGentiana bavarica Gentiana bavarica Gentianaceae Photo: CC BY, Elias all 104 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Blackstonia pontica; Blackstonia uniflora; Blackstonia verna; Ericala aestiva; Ericala angulosa and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Gentiana acaulis Patrin is an older name of this species, not Gentiana acaulis, a species of the reference; Gentiana prostrata Schleich. ex Cham. & Schltdl. is an older name of this species, not Gentiana prostrata, a species of the reference; Gentiana pumila Suter is an older name of this species, not Gentiana pumila, a species of the reference; Gentiana utriculosa Wahlenb. is an older name of this species, not Gentiana utriculosa, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Gentianaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Great Britain, Ireland, Austria +20
Wild records
1570 in range · 1063 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 8 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 44.50_5.625, lapse-corrected +544 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 369094-1 is Kew's for Gentiana verna L.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 125 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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