434 
THE root is perennial, long, cylindrical, externally brown 
lly yellowifl 
flower Hem is ftrong, fmooth, ered, tap 
iri^ 
d rife 
three feet in height : the leaves, which proceed fro 
the lower part of 
feffile, and p 
ftem, are fpear-fh 
g 
entire, 
bed 
thofe on the upper part are concave, fmooth 
gg-fhaped, and of a pale or yellowiih green colour : the flowers 
1 
lar 
yellow, produced in whorls, and Hand upon ftrong ped 
the calyx is a membranous deciduous fpatha : the corolla is divided 
bafe into five 
the fil 
th 
vary 
in nu 
ong narrow fpread 
from five to 
mb 
eight ; 
ptical feg 
ley are fhort 
a 
the corolla, and furnifhed with long eredt anth 
<-» • 
th 
ermen 
is long, conical, without a ftyle, and fupplied with two reflexed 
iligmata : the capfule is conical, of one cell, divided ' 
n 
i 
and contains numerous fmall feeds, Jt flowers in June and July 
This plant is a native of the Alp 
d 
ding to 
Ho 
Kewenfis was firft cultivated in Britain in the time of Gerard 
But 
the Gentian with which our ihops are fupplied, is imported fror 
the mountainous parts of Switzerland, Germany, & 
The root, which is the only medicinal part of the plant, ha 
fi 
7 
but to the tafte it 
hich is extracted by aqu 
ous, fp 
feds great bitterneft 
a 
, a qu 
d vinous menftr 
litjfc 
thou 
fo great a degree by water as by fp 
and th 
of this root, prepared from the watery infufiori, is lefs bitter tha 
made from the fpirituous tincture/ 
Gentian J is the principal bitter now employed by phyfic 
and as the intenfe bitters are generally admitted to be not onl) 
and ftomachic 
arthritic, and feb 
trad 
that 
.* 
anthelmintic, antifeptic, emmenag 
anti- 
m «»^ uv , ««« ^~**iiuge, this root has a 
of thefe powers than moft of this kind 
claim to the poileffi 
l| In pratis montanis & fubalpinis, poft hone ad'feenfum ex planitie ubique, lit fuper 
Neuenjiatt verfus Nodz, fub Pane*, m pratis Jorogne. 
L 
quae 
pecore non tangatur. Hal/er 
P 
X i he name Gentian is fuppofed to be taken from G 
firft difcovered its ufes. 
* The roots of other fpecies of G 
ferred by fame to that of the iutca v 
peftris, Amarella. 
King of Illy 
> 
Wh0 
G. purpurea, afclepiadea 
equally bitter, and arc pre- 
In 
I 
