This plant forms a rosette of basal obovate to spathulate yellowish-green leaves, about 1 cm long.

Flowers are deep blue, 1–2 centimetres (0.39–0.79 in) long, with broad spreading lobes.

Gentiana bavarica is native to European Alps and prefers wet grasslands at elevation of 1,300–3,600 metres (4,300–11,800 ft) above sea level.

D. H. Lawrence titled one of his latest poems Bavarian Gentians.

In it, he likens the flower to a "blue, forked torch" that he uses to light his descent into the underworld.