The Marsh Gentian, Gentiana pneumonanthe, is a scarce plant of wet grasslands and wet heaths. Research in the Netherlands has revealed some of the problems of conserving this species. Oostermeijer, den Nijs, Raijmann & Menken (1992, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 108:117-130) found that Marsh Gentian populations tend to fall into one of two categories, being either of mixed-age plants producing few flowers and with high mortality rates among young plants but with good seedling production (dynamic populations); or predominantly mature/old plants with low annual mortality and abundant flower production but low or no recruitment (static or senile populaitons).