gentian family

American  

noun

1. the plant family Gentianaceae, typified by herbaceous plants having simple opposite leaves, usually blue flowers with five united petals, and fruit in the form of a capsule, and including the closed gentian, fringed gentian, centaury, exacum, and marsh pink.

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Example Sentences

Sheldrake focussed on a genus of mycohets called Voyria, part of the gentian family, the flowers of which studded the jungle floor on Barro Colorado Island like pale purple stars.

From The New Yorker

Sabbatia, sa-bā′ti-a, n. a genus of small North American herbaceous plants of the gentian family.

From Project Gutenberg

Yell′ow-wort, an annual of the gentian family—also Yell′ow-cen′taury.—adj.

From Project Gutenberg