Long included in Gentiana in the broad sense, this is a large genus worldwide, well represented in regions of high altitudes and high latitudes. Our only species is restricted to temperate eastern North America. Gentianella amarella (L.) Börner, a circumpolar species, might be found in the Lake Superior region of Michigan, for it grows on the north side of that lake in Ontario, as well as from Labrador to Alaska in North America, south to Mexico in the western mountains. It differs most obviously in having a long beard arising at the base of each corolla lobe. Also, the tips of the corolla lobes are mucronate in G. quinquefolia, while no mucro or tooth occurs on the lobes in G. amarella.