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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)",
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    "chunk_id": "1911:gentian:b0058323db4e",
    "title": "GENTIAN",
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    "verified_text": "gentian, botanically _gentiana_, a large genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the natural order gentianaceae. the genus comprises about 300 species,--most of them perennial plants with tufted growth, growing in hilly or mountainous districts, chiefly in the northern hemisphere, some of the blue-flowered species ascending to a height of 16,000 ft. in the himalaya mountains. the leaves are opposite, entire and smooth, and often strongly ribbed. the 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 separate and rolled back or contiguous and funnel-shaped. the fruit when ripe separates into two valves, and contains numerous small seeds. the majority of the genus are remarkable for the deep or brilliant blue colour of their blossoms, comparatively few having yellow, white, or more rarely red flowers; the last are almost exclusively found in the andes. only a few species occur in britain. _g. amarella_ (felwort) and _g. campestris_ are small annual species growing on chalky or calcareous hills, and bear in autumn somewhat tubular pale 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 fives, and equal in size. some intermediate forms between these two species occur, although rarely, in england; one of these, _g. germanica_, has larger flowers of a bluer tint, spreading branches, and a stouter stem. some of these forms flower in spring. _g. pneumonanthe_, the calathian violet, is a rather rare perennial species, growing in moist heathy places from cumberland to dorsetshire. its average height is from 6 to 9 in. it has linear leaves, and a bright blue corolla 11⁄2 in. long, marked externally with five greenish bands, is without hairs in its throat, and is found in perfection about the end of august. it is the handsomest of the 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 local perennial, occurring, however, in teesdale and the county of clare in ireland in tolerable abundance. it has a tufted habit of growth, and each stem bears only one flower. it is sometimes cultivated as an edging for flower 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 great difficulty of growing them successfully renders them, however, less common than would otherwise be the case; although very hardy when once established, they are very impatient of removal, and rarely flower well until the third 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 early in the spring. all the species of the genus are remarkable for possessing an intense but pure bitter taste and tonic properties. about forty species are used in medicine in different parts of the world. the name of felwort given to _g. amarella_, but occasionally applied to the whole genus, is stated by dr prior to be given in allusion to these properties--_fel_ meaning gall, and _wort_ a plant. in the same way the chinese call _g. asclepiadea_, and the japanese _g. buergeri_, \"dragon's gall plants,\" in common with several other very bitter plants whose roots they use in medicine. _g. campestris_ is sometimes used in 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 open grassy places on the alps, apennines and pyrenees, as well as on some of the mountainous ranges of france and germany, extending as far east as bosnia and the danubian principalities. it has large oval strongly-ribbed leaves and dense whorls of conspicuous yellow flowers. its use in medicine is of very ancient date. pliny and dioscorides mention that the plant was noticed by gentius, a king of the illyrians, living 180-167 b.c., from whom the name _gentiana_ is supposed to be derived. during the middle ages it was much employed in the cure of disease, and as an ingredient in counter-poisons. in 1552 hieronymus bock (tragus) (1498-1554), a german priest, physician and botanist, mentions the use of the root as a means of dilating wounds. the root, which is the part used in medicine, is tough and flexible, scarcely branched, and of a brownish colour and spongy texture. it has a pure bitter taste and faint distinctive odour. the bitter principle, known as _gentianin_, is a glucoside, soluble in water and alcohol. it can be decomposed into glucose and gentiopicrin by the action of dilute mineral acids. it is not precipitated by tannin or subacetate of lead. a solution of caustic potash or soda forms with gentianin a yellow solution, and the 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 acid_ (c14h10o5), which is inert and tasteless. it forms pale yellow silky crystals, very slightly soluble in water or 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 sugar called gentianose, of which fact advantage has long been taken in switzerland and bavaria for the 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 _veratrum album_, a poisonous plant growing at the same altitude, and having leaves extremely similar in appearance and size to those of _g. lutea_. gentian is one of the most efficient of the class of substances which act upon the stomach so as to invigorate digestion and thereby increase the general nutrition, without exerting any direct influence upon any other portion of the body than the alimentary canal. having a pleasant taste and being non-astringent (owing to the absence of tannic acid), it is the most widely used of all bitter tonics. the british pharmacopoeia contains an aqueous extract (dose, 2-8 grains), a compound infusion with orange and lemon peel (dose, 1⁄2-1 ounce), and a compound tincture with orange peel and cardamoms (dose 1⁄2-1 drachm). it is used in dyspepsia, chlorosis, anaemia and various other diseases, in which the 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 chief ingredient. gentianaceae (the gentian family), in botany, an order of dicotyledons belonging to the sub-class sympetalae or gamopetalae, and containing about 750 species in 64 genera. it has a world-wide distribution, and representatives adapted to very various conditions, including, for instance, alpine plants, like the true gentians (_gentiana_), meadow plants such as the british _chlora perfoliata_ (yellow-wort) or _erythraea centaurium_ (centaury), marsh plants such as _menyanthes trifoliata_ (bog-bean), floating water plants such as _limnanthemum_, or steppe and sea-coast plants such as _cicendia_. they are annual or perennial herbs, rarely becoming shrubby, and generally growing erect, with a characteristic forked manner of branching; the asiatic genus _crawfurdia_ has a climbing stem; they are often low-growing and caespitose, as in the alpine gentians. the leaves are in decussating pairs (that is, each pair is in a plane at right angles to the previous or succeeding pair), except in _menyanthes_ and a few allied aquatic or marsh genera, where they are alternate or radical. several genera, chiefly american, are saprophytes, forming slender low-growing herbs, containing little or no chlorophyll and with leaves reduced to scales; such are _voyria_ and _leiphaimos_, mainly tropical american. the inflorescence is generally cymose, often dichasial, recalling that of caryophyllaceae, the lateral branches often becoming monochasial; it is sometimes reduced to a few flowers or one only, as in some gentians. the flowers are hermaphrodite, and regular with parts in 4's and 5's, with reduction to 2 in the pistil; in _chlora_ there are 6 to 8 members in each whorl. the calyx generally forms a tube with teeth or segments which usually overlap in the bud. the corolla shows great variety in form; thus among the british genera it is rotate in _chlora_, funnel-shaped in _erythraea_, and cylindrical, bell-shaped, funnel-shaped or salver-shaped in _gentiana_; the segments are generally twisted to the right in the bud; the throat is often fimbriate or bears scales. the stamens, as many as, and alternating with, the corolla-segments, are inserted at very different heights on the corolla-tube; the filaments are slender, the anthers are usually attached dorsally, are versatile, and dehisce by two longitudinal slits; after escape of the pollen they sometimes become spirally twisted as in _erythraea_. dimorphic flowers are frequent, as in the bog-bean (_menyanthes_). there is considerable variation in the size, shape and external markings of the pollen grains, and a division of the order into tribes and subtribes based primarily on pollen characters has been proposed. the form of the honey-secreting developments of the disk at the base of the ovary also shows considerable variety. the superior ovary is generally one-chambered, with two variously developed parietal placentas, which occasionally meet, forming two chambers; the ovules are generally very numerous and anatropous or half-anatropous in form. the style, which varies much in length, is simple, with an undivided or bilobed or bipartite stigma. the fruit is generally a membranous or leathery capsule, splitting septicidally into two valves; the seeds are small and numerous, and contain a small embryo in a copious endosperm. [illustration: central figure and figs. 1-4 after curtis, _flora londinensis_. _gentiana amarella._ 1, a small form, natural size. 2, calyx and protruding style. 3, corolla, laid open. 4, capsule, bursting into two valves, and showing the seeds attached to their margins. 5, floral diagram.] the brilliant colour of the flowers, often occurring in large numbers (as in the alpine gentians), the presence of honey-glands and the frequency of dimorphy and dichogamy, are adaptations for pollination by insect visitors. in the true gentians (_gentiana_) the flowers of different species are adapted for widely differing types of insect visitors. thus _gentiana lutea_, with a rotate yellow corolla and freely exposed honey, is adapted to short-tongued insect visitors; _g. pneumonanthe_, with a long-tubed, bright blue corolla, is visited by bumble bees; and _g. verna_, with a still longer narrower tube, is visited by lepidoptera. _gentiana_, the largest genus, contains nearly three hundred species, distributed over europe (including arctic), five being british, the mountains of asia, south-east australia and new zealand, the whole of north america and along the andes to cape horn; it does not occur in africa. bitter principles are general in the vegetative parts, especially in the rhizomes and roots, and have given a medicinal value to many species, e.g. _gentiana lutea_ and others.",
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