gentian family

American  

noun

1. the plant family Gentianaceae, typified by herbaceous plants having simple opposite leaves, usually blue flowers with five united petals, and fruit in the form of a capsule, and including the closed gentian, fringed gentian, centaury, exacum, and marsh pink.

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Example Sentences

Sabbatia, sa-bā′ti-a, n. a genus of small North American herbaceous plants of the gentian family.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various