New Zealand gentians—dressed in white and pink

“Gentians are blue.” Having grown up in Switzerland, that’s what I used to think. In New Zealand, however, I soon learnt that gentians are generally white. Most of New Zealand’s 30 species of gentians grow in tussock grassland and alpine herbfields, where they flower in late summer or autumn. Some species grow as tall as 50 cm.

Amongst the tussock, the white glowing flowers make for a showy display. I have been to areas where gentians were so abundant that it took careful footwork not to stand on them—quite a different story from the rare gentian with delicate, velvety blue flowers I remember from Switzerland.

Many visitors to New Zealand remark on the lack of colour in the flowers of alpine plants. In fact, almost 80% of alpine plants have white flowers, which is twice the world average. It is thought that the reason for that is New Zealand’s lack of specialised insect pollinators, such as long-tongued bees which respond well to blue. Since there are no native long-tongued bees in New Zealand, colour offers no advantage to the plants. The main pollinators are flies, moths and short-tongued bees which are readily attracted to white flowers.

Nevertheless, there is at least one species of gentian that decided to be extra special and dresses up in pink! Meet my special guest, the Pink gentian, aka Gentiana tenuifolia:

To meet other members of the gentianaceae family please visit my gentian gallery.

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