This small tufted gentian of the damp meadow is native to the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, south through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and Nevada.
There are two recognized varieties. The larger more northerly variety is var. newberryi the southern and some what smaller variety is var. tiogana. Both varieties display white or light blue flowers freckled with brown. From what I have read the blue flowers are more common in the northern populations. I know I have never seen them with blue blossoms when I've been out botanizing in the Sierras.
The plants pictured are four inches tall in flower growing at 8500'.
www.plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=GENE
http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=3781
http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-taxon=Gentiana+n...
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=59442
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=59443
