This member of the gentian family has deep blue flowers with four delicately fringed unequal lobes that flare out from a deep corolla tube. The individual flowers are borne on long branching stalks. The individual blossoms can be quite large - up to two inches long. They open in sunlight and close at night.

The ovate to lance-shaped leaves are opposite, rounded at the base and pointed at the tip. They are 1-2 inches long. The plant grows up to 3 feet high and is found in meadows, wet woods, seepage areas, along stream and lake banks. It can be found from southern Canada across northern United States and south in the mountains to Georgia. The blooming period is September to November.

This is considered one of the most beautiful of the gentians, both in form and in color. It is a biennial plant and, like other gentians, among the last flowers to bloom in the fall. The smaller fringed gentian (G. procera) is similar is a shorter plant with narrower leaves and shorter flower fringe.