Distinguished from blue gentians, Gentiana alba has light white-cream flowers. It's an uncommon species, native to mesic black soil prairies, open woods, forest edges, oak savannahs and rocky bluffs, primarily in the central U.S. and southern Canada. Commonly called plain gentian or white gentian, it is typically 1'-2' tall but can reach 3'. It has stout, unbranched stems, and yellowish to olive green leaves (up to 3" long, 2" wide). The closed, tube-shaped flowers are white, greenish white, or yellowish white (up to 1.5" long) and emerge from the leaf axils. The flower shape is intermediate—more open than the Bottle Gentians (e.g., Gentiana andrewsii), but not as open as the Prairie Gentian (Gentiana puberulenta). An understated addition to borders, cottage gardens, a specimen in a wildflower pollinator garden, massed in meadow plantings. The flower structure and arrangement are best seen close up and can be missed amongst brighter colored companions.
Gentiana alba prefers full to part sun, with moist to average well-drained soil conditions. It will tolerate a range of humus-containing loamy, clay, gravelly or sandy soils. It flowers best in full sun, but full sun in the heat of summer may bleach or yellow the leaves, as can extended periods of dryness. It grows best in regions with cooler summers and performs poorly in plant hardiness zones south of Zone 7.
Space plants 12"-18" on center.
Growing unbranched up to 2', and only foot or so wide, Gentiana alba can be planted fairly close together, 12"-18" when massing. Planting individually, consider placing next to shorter species so the subtle flowers of plain gentian can be seen and enjoyed.
Favored companion plantings are prairie natives such as Dalea purpurea (purple prairie clover), Liatris pycnostachya (prairie blazing star), Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue), Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower), and Tradescantia ohiensis (bluejacket). Graminoid companions include Carex gravida (heavy sedge) and Sorghastrum nutans (indiangrass).
So you've heard of gentian blue and thought that the color gave rise to the genus name? Nah, it derives from the Illyrian king, Gentius (reign c. 180-168 BCE), who used the roots of the plant for a tonic. The specific epithet describes the pale, whitish color of the flowers.
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Would you like your plants shipped later? You may choose to do so in the shopping cart.
Note: Early spring shipments might include plants that have not yet broken dormancy, or have not been vernalized and will be frost-tender. Please use your best judgment when selecting your preferred ship week.
Did you know? When plants are available from multiple growers, we list growers closest to your location first.
Why choose plants from the nearest grower? Choosing a the grower closest to you makes it more likely the plants are consistent with your ecoregion and better adapted to your location. In addition, shipping plants shorter distances typically uses fewer resources, something we can all get behind!
Recorded County Distribution: USDA data.
AR, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NE, OH, OK, PA, WI, WV |
Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain | FACU |
Eastern Mountains and Piedmont | FACU |
Great Plains | FAC |
Midwest | FACU |
Northcentral and Northeast | FACU |
MAP OF WETLAND DELINEATION REGIONS
Code |
Status |
Designation |
Comment |
OBL |
Obligate Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Almost always occur in wetlands |
FACW |
Facultative Wetland |
Hydrophyte |
Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands |
FAC |
Facultative |
Hydrophyte |
Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands |
FACU |
Facultative Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands |
UPL |
Obligate Upland |
Nonhydrophyte |
Almost never occur in wetlands |
Kingdom | Plantae | Plants |
Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants |
Superdivision | Spermatophyta | Seed plants |
Division | Magnoliophyta | |
Class | Magnoliopsida | |
Subclass | Asteridae | |
Order | Gentianales | |
Family | Gentianaceae | Gentian family |
Genus | Gentiana | gentian |
Species | Gentiana alba | plain gentian |
white prairie gentian, pale gentian, yellow gentian
Sizes info
Shipping is free on all plants orders!
Your plants will ship using each grower’s preferred method: FedEx Ground, UPS Ground, or Spee-Dee Ground (in select midwestern states). Our growers ship orders Monday through Wednesday. The farther your plants need to travel, the earlier in the week they will ship. The goal is to have all plants delivered by the end of the week.
Shipping plugs:
Plugs are shipped in full flats, sometimes also referred to as trays. Multiple flats can be shipped in a single box. The flats are wrapped in netting or craft paper to secure the plants, and spacers are used between flats to keep the plants from being crushed.
When you unpack your plugs, the plants will have been somewhat flattened by the netting or craft paper. They will straighten out within a couple of days. You may also gently “fluff” them a bit to speed up the process. In some cases, your plants might have been cut back before packing, if the grower deemed them to have become too tall for safe packaging. Don’t worry, though, these guys know what they’re doing and would not compromise the health of the plants. They’ll fill back in in no time.
After receiving your plants’ journey in a dark box, it will be important to acclimate them to sunlight again. Over a couple of days, you should gradually move them into their preferred light exposure, and water them as per their requirement.
Although we always recommend putting your plants in the ground as soon as possible, they can stay healthy in the flats for a considerable amount of time. The key is to respect their growing requirements: if the species requires full sun, do not store them in the shade. If it is best adapted to dry soil, do not over-water.
Planting plugs:
We consider plugs ready to ship when the plants’ roots have filled the entire liner cell and the plants can easily be pulled out. In some cases you will have to go about it gently, wiggling the plant by the crown, and possibly squeezing the bottom of the liner to compress the growing medium and release the roots. Other times, the plants will appear to be root bound. They are not in the traditional sense. The plants are healthy but they have used up all the growing medium available to them. Plugs are at an aggressive stage of growth. As soon as planted the roots will immediately expand into your native soil. They establish faster than plants in larger containers, because they don’t have the luxury of a lot of growing media that can inhibit the roots from venturing outside of their comfort zone.
We are not going to address area preparation because the process can be complex and is always site-specific. However, as a rule, we recommend disturbing the soil as little as possible, and we do not recommend amending the soil. If you chose the right plant for the right conditions they will thrive. Any disturbance and amendments will only encourage weeds to emerge that never had a chance to do so before.
Installing plugs cannot be easier: dig a hole large enough for the roots to fit snugly inside, then water them in to eliminate air gaps. We recommend using a soil knife, sometimes referred to as hori hori, or a drill-adapted auger if it’s a large installation. If you use an auger, you will need a powerful drill. Depending on the size of the project and the type of soil, the process can be beyond what an average drill will bear. Mulching is recommended after installation to help keep weeds down while the plants establish. Be sure to keep it away from the crown of the plants. For large projects, you may want to mulch the area before planting, rather than tiptoeing through it after the fact. As a side note: if you are installing plugs in the fall, you might want to plant them so that the crown is about ¾” lower than the surrounding soil. The winter’s freeze/thaw cycles can push plugs out if the roots did not have enough time to establish and anchor them in.