Gentiana triflora var. japonica ("Ezorindo")

Japanese name: エゾリンドウ （蝦夷竜胆）
Scientific name: Gentiana triflora var. japonica

[Overview]
A perennial 30–80 cm tall, found in sunny wetlands in the mountains.
It has a thick rhizome underground.
The stem is erect.
Five or more pairs of leaves are borne oppositely on the stem; they are simple, lanceolate, 5–10 cm long and 0.8–3.5 cm wide, and the undersides are tinged powdery white.
The leaf margins are not rough.
There is no leaf stalk.
Five to twenty flowers are borne at the stem tip or in the upper leaf axils, and have bracts.
The corolla is tubular-bell-shaped, 3–4.5 cm long, 5-lobed at the tip, and bluish purple.
The corolla lobes spread flat.
The calyx tube is about 1 cm long, and the calyx lobes are uneven in length and shape.
The flowers face upward and open only on sunny days.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Uses]
The roots and rhizomes are used medicinally as a substitute for Rindo.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by division, or by stem cuttings.
The best time for stem cuttings is May–June.
It prefers a fertile soil that is sunny, well drained, moisture-retentive and well aerated.
Direct summer sun causes leaf scorch, so move it to bright shade or shade it by 50%.
It is cold-hardy, but in winter it is best to protect it with a straw mulch or similar so that it is not exposed to hard freezing or cold wind.
It dislikes dryness and the leaves are damaged when it dries out, so water once a day, in summer in the evening when the temperature drops.
If fertilizer is lacking, the leaves turn yellow.
Apply slow-release fertilizer as a base fertilizer, and apply liquid fertilizer twice a month in spring and autumn.
Leaving spent flowers in place tires the plant, so remove them if you are not collecting seed.
Pests and diseases include rust, root-knot nematodes and aphids.

[Notes]
Most of what is called "rindo" in cut flowers and the like are improved cultivars of this Ezo-rindo.
Rindo has a slender rhizome and its leaf margins are rough.

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