Snow Gentian (Gentiana nivalis)

Description:
The delicate annual can be distinguished from similar gentians by smaller flowers up to 15 mm long, which have a whitish corolla tube with dark longitudinal lines. Stems can be up to 15 cm tall and slightly branched, with several flowers each. The plant lacks non-flowering shoots. Basal leaves are clustered in a rosette, ovate or elliptic with blunt tips. Margins are slightly papillose. The robust calyx is tubular, adnate to the corolla tube, and has dark, almost black longitudinal edges that end at the calyx teeth. Habitats are on limestone pastures and rocky grasslands from 1600 to 2400 m altitude, also in our mountains. Otherwise, it grows in the mountains of northern, central, and southern Europe, Asia Minor, and eastern North America.
Flowers from June to August.

Description contributed by user malenka.

Flowers are not reviewed by experts/botanists, so errors are possible.