Thou waitest late and com’st alone,
When woods are bare and birds are flown,
And frosts and shortening days portend
The aged year is near his end.
Then doth thy sweet and quiet eye
Look through its fringes to the sky,
Blue-blue-as if that sky let fall
A flower from its cerulean wall.
So writes poet William Cullen Bryant of the rare northeastern biennial, the Fringed Gentian (Gentianopsis crinata). This small, fall-blooming plant is a poor competitor with aggressive and woody plants; it needs the full sun and open space of wet meadows to thrive. Each plant only produces a single flower stalk during its second year of growth. Honeybees and Bumblebees have been its observed pollinators, though other insect visitors are not ruled out. Fringed Gentians are threatened both by habitat loss and natural succession; meadows are transitional habitats that tend to be colonized by larger woody shrubs and trees, shading out existing species. My camera cannot capture just how blue they are— one of the most striking wildflowers I’ve ever seen. I hope you’re lucky enough to see one in person!