Striped Gentian
Gentiana villosa
In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in upland forests, sandhill/pocosin ecotones. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Louisiana. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- 1–2 feet
- Light
- Part sun
- Soil moisture
- Somewhat dry to average
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- August to November
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 7 Louisiana parishes.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forest or woodland where the source does not say how moist or dry.
Dry, deep-sand ridges with longleaf pine and turkey oak, kept open by fire.
Who uses this plant?
1CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA
Genus host records with ranges including LA · Gentiana
- Endothenia hebesanaVerbena Bud Moth
10BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Gentiana
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
2BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Gentiana
- Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
- Lagopus leucuraWhite-tailed Ptarmigan
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Gentianaceae
- Flower color
- White, green or purple
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “Late August to November” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “White, green or purple” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “1–2 feet” · Tennessee Smart Yards (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs) · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Part sun” · Tennessee Smart Yards · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
- Soil · “medium to moderately dry” · Tennessee Smart Yards · Published Tennessee growing guidance; exact cached scientific heading
Conservation status
| Louisiana rank | S2 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4 |
| LA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Louisiana occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications