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GENTIAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 601 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GENTIAN , botanically Gentiana, a large genus of herbaceous See also:

plants belonging to the natural See also:order See also:Gentianaceae. The genus comprises about 300 See also:species,—most of them perennial plants with tufted growth, growing in hilly or mountainous districts, chiefly in the See also:northern hemisphere, some of the See also:blue-flowered species ascending to a height of 16,000 ft. in the See also:Himalaya Mountains. The leaves are opposite, entire and smooth, and often strongly ribbed. The See also:flowers have a persistent 4- to 5-lobed calyx and a 4- to 5-lobed tubular corolla; the stamens are equal in number to the lobes of the corolla. The ovary is one-celled, with two stigmas, either See also:separate and rolled back or contiguous and See also:funnel-shaped. The See also:fruit when ripe separates into two valves, and contains numerous small seeds. The See also:majority of the genus are remarkable for the deep or brilliant blue See also:colour of their blossoms, comparatively few having yellow, See also:white, or more rarely red flowers; the last are almost exclusively found in the See also:Andes. Only a few species occur in See also:Britain. G. amarella (felwort) and G. campestris are small See also:annual species growing on chalky or calcareous hills, and See also:bear in autumn somewhat tubular See also:pale See also:purple flowers; the latter is most easily distinguished by having two of the lobes of the calyx larger than the other two, while the former has the parts of the calyx in See also:fives, and equal in See also:size. Some intermediate forms between these two species occur, although rarely, in See also:England; one of these, G. germanica, has larger flowers of a bluer tint, spreading branches, and a stouter See also:stem. Some of these forms See also:flower in See also:spring. G. pneumonantlie, the Calathian See also:violet, is a rather rare perennial species, growing in moist heathy places from See also:Cumberland to See also:Dorsetshire.

Its See also:

average height is from 6 to 9 in. It has linear leaves, and a See also:bright blue corolla 12 in. See also:long, marked externally with five greenish bands, is without hairs in its See also:throat, and is found in perfection about the end of See also:August. It is the handsomest of the See also:British species; two varieties of it are known in cultivation, one with spotted and the other with white flowers. G. verna and G. nivalis are small species with brilliant blue flowers and small leaves. The former is a rare and See also:local perennial, occurring, however, in Teesdale and the See also:county of See also:Clare in See also:Ireland in tolerable abundance. It has a tufted See also:habit of growth, and each stem bears only one flower. It is sometimes cultivated as an edging for flower See also:borders. G. nivalis in Britain occurs only on a few of the loftiest Scottish mountains. It differs from the last in being an annual, and having a more isolated habit of growth, and in the stem bearing several flowers. On the Swiss mountains these beautiful little plants are very abundant; and the splendid blue colour of masses of gentian in flower is a sight which, when once seen, can never be forgotten. For ornamental purposes several species are cultivated. The See also:great difficulty of growing them successfully renders them, however, less See also:common than would otherwise be the See also:case; although very See also:hardy when once established, they are very impatient of removal, and rarely flower well until the third See also:year after planting, Of the ornamental species found in British gardens some of the prettiest are G. acaulis, G. verna, G. pyrenaica, G. bavarica, G. septemfida and G. gelida.

Perhaps the handsomest and most easily grown is the first named, often called Gentianella, which produces its large intensely blue flowers See also:

early in the spring. All the species of the genus are remarkable for possessing an intense but pure See also:bitter See also:taste and tonic properties. About See also:forty species are used in See also:medicine in different parts of the See also:world. The name of felwort given to G. amarella, but occasionally applied to the whole genus, is stated by Dr See also:Prior to be given in allusion to these properties—fel meaning See also:gall, and wort a plant. In the same way the See also:Chinese See also:call G. asclepiadea, and the See also:Japanese G. Buergeri, " See also:dragon's gall plants," in common with several other very bitter plants whose roots they use in medicine. G. See also:cam pestris is sometimes used in See also:Sweden and other northern countries as a substitute for hops. By far the most important of the species used in medicine is G. lutea, a large handsome plant 3 or 4 ft. high, growing in opengrassy places on the See also:Alps, See also:Apennines and See also:Pyrenees, as well as on some of the mountainous ranges of See also:France and See also:Germany, extending as far See also:east as Bosnia and the Danubian principalities. It has large See also:oval strongly-ribbed leaves and dense whorls of conspicuous yellow flowers. Its use in medicine is of very See also:ancient date. See also:Pliny and Dioscorides mention that the plant was noticed by Gentius, a See also:king of the Illyrians, living 18o-167 B.C., from whom the name Gentiana is supposed to be derived. During the See also:middle ages it was much employed in the cure of disease, and as an ingredient in See also:counter-poisons.

In 1552 Hieronymus Bock (Tragus) (1498-1554), a See also:

German See also:priest, physician and botanist, mentions the use of the See also:root as a means of dilating wounds. The root, which is the See also:part used in medicine, is tough and flexible, scarcely branched, and of a brownish colour and spongy texture. It has a pure bitter taste d faint distinctive odour. The bitter principle, known as genii in, is a See also:glucoside, soluble in See also:water and See also:alcohol. It can be decomposed into See also:glucose and gentiopicrin by the See also:action of dilute See also:mineral acids. It is not precipitated by See also:tannin or subacetate of See also:lead. A See also:solution of See also:caustic potash or soda forms with gentianin a yellow solution, and the See also:tincture of the root to which either of these alkalis has been added loses its bitterness in a few days. Gentian root also contains gentianic See also:acid (C14H1005), which is inert and tasteless. It forms pale yellow silky crystals, very slightly soluble in water or See also:ether, but soluble in hot strong alcohol and in aqueous alkaline solutions. This substance is also called gentianin, gentisin and gentisic acid. The root also contains 12 to 15% of an uncrystallizable See also:sugar called gentianose, of which fact See also:advantage has long been taken in See also:Switzerland and See also:Bavaria for the See also:production of a bitter cordial spirit called Enzianbranntwein. The use of this spirit, especially in Switzerland, has sometimes been followed by poisonous symptoms, which have been doubtfully attributed to inherent narcotic properties possessed by some species of gentian, the roots of which may have been indiscriminately collected with it; but it is quite possible that it may be due to the contamination of the root with that of See also:Veratrum See also:album, a poisonous plant growing at the same See also:altitude, and having leaves extremely similar in See also:appearance and size to those of G. lutea.

Gentian is one of the most efficient of the class of substances which See also:

act upon the See also:stomach so as to invigorate digestion and thereby increase the See also:general See also:nutrition, without exerting any See also:direct See also:influence upon any other portion of the See also:body than the alimentary See also:canal. Having a pleasant taste and being non-astringent (owing to the See also:absence of tannic acid), it is the most widely used of all bitter tonics. The British See also:Pharmacopoeia contains an aqueous See also:extract (dose, 2-8 grains), a See also:compound infusion with See also:orange and See also:lemon See also:peel (dose, a-1 See also:ounce), and a compound tincture with orange peel and cardamoms (dose s-r drachm). It is used in See also:dyspepsia, See also:chlorosis, See also:anaemia and various other diseases, in which the See also:tone of the stomach and alimentary canal is deficient, and is sometimes added to purgative medicines to increase and improve their action. In veterinary medicine it is also used as a tonic, and enters into a well-known compound called diapente as a See also:chief ingredient.

End of Article: GENTIAN

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GENTIANACEAE (the gentian family)

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