PLANTS: Annual or perennial herbs, rarely shrubs. LEAVES: simple, mostly opposite, cauline or forming basal rosettes. INFLORESCENCE: mostly cymes. FLOWERS: perfect, actinomorphic; sepals and petals 4 or 5, united but often deeply parted; stamens 4 or 5, epipetalous; pistil 1, carpels 2, ovary superior, the placentation mostly parietal. FRUIT: a capsule. SEEDS: numerous. NOTES: 80 genera, 900 spp., world-wide. REFERENCES: Mason, Charles T. 1998 Gentianaceae. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. 30(2): 84.