600 



GEN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



GEN 



swelling in the middle ; seeds often barren. Native of Lap- 

 land, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy, and North America. 

 Haller observes, that it occupies large tracts of country, 

 where it is left untouched by any kind of cattle. Our old 

 English authors call it Felwort and Bitterwort, Before hops 

 had established their reputation, this, with many other bitter 

 herbs, was used occasionally in brewing : Mr. Houghton, at 

 the end of the seventeenth century, assures us, that he had 

 often sold it for that purpose. Gerarde says, that Master 

 Isaac de Laune, a learned physician, sent him plants of this 

 sort for the increase of his garden, from Burgundy; and it 

 is named in English, Felwoort, Gentian, Bitterwoort, Bald- 

 moyne, and Baldmoney. The root of this species of Gentian, 

 imported from Switzerland and Germany, is the principal 

 bitter now employed in medicine, though the roots of several 

 other sorts are said to be equally efficacious, and are even 

 preferred by some. As the intense bitters are generally 

 admitted to be not only tonic and stomachic, but also anthel- 

 mintic, antiseptic, emmenagogue, antiarthritic, and febrifuge, 

 this root has a better claim to the possession of these powers 

 than most of the kind. Many dyspeptic complaints, though 

 arising from the debility of the stomach, are more effectually 

 relieved by these bitters than by Peruvian bark ; and Gen- 

 tian, joined with equal parts of Tormentil, or galls, has con- 

 stantly succeeded, as we are told by Dr. Cullen, in curing 

 intermittents, if given in sufficient quantity. As a simple bit- 

 ter, Gentian is rendered more grateful to the stomach, by the 

 addition of an aromatic ; and for this purpose, orange-peel is 

 generally used. Meyrick says of it, the dried roots are kept 

 in the shops, and are the principal ingredient in most of the 

 bitter tinctures and infusions. A tincture made with two 

 ounces of the root, one ounce of dried orange-peel, and half 

 an ounce of cardamom-seeds bruised, in a quart of brandy, 

 is an excellent medicine in disorders of the stomach, which it 

 strengthens surprisingly; and is no less efficacious in restoring 

 an appetite, and promoting digestion. It is likewise useful in 

 the decline of putrid and malignant fevers, in disorders arising 

 from obstructions of the viscera, in intermittent fevers and 

 agues, and also for the worms. This plant delights in a light 

 loamy soil, and a shady situation, where it will thrive much 

 better than in a light dry soil, or on an open exposure. It is 

 propagated by seed, which should be sown in pots soon after 

 it is ripe, for if it be kept till the spring, it will not succeed; 

 these pots should be placed in a shady situation, and kept 

 clean from weeds. It the spring the plants will appear, when 

 they must be duly watered in dry weather, and kept clean 

 from weeds until the following autumn ; they should then be 

 carefully shaken out of the pots, so as not to break or injure 

 their roots ; and a shady border of loamy earth should be 

 well dug and prepared to receive them, into which the plants 

 should be put, at about six inches' distance each way, observ- 

 ing to let the top of the roots be a little below the surface of 

 the ground, then press the earth close to the roots : after this, 

 they will require no further care, except to keep them con- 

 stantly clean from weeds; and if the following spring should 

 prove dry, they must be duly watered, which will greatly for- 

 ward their growth. In this border the plants may stand 

 two years, by which time they will be fit to transplant where 

 they are designed to remain ; therefore in autumn, as soon 

 as their leaves decay, they may be removed ; but as the 

 roots of these plants run deep into the ground, like carrots, 

 there must be great care taken, in digging them up, not to 

 cut or break their roots, for that will greatly weaken, if it 

 does not kill them. After the plants are well fixed in their 

 places, they require no other culture, but to dig the ground 

 about them early in the spring, before they begin to shoot, 



and in the summer to keep them clean from weeds. The 

 roots of these plants will continue many years, bat die stalks 

 decay every autumn : the same roots do not flower two years 

 together, nor seldom oftener than every third year; but when 

 they flower strong, they make a fine appearance, and as these 

 delight in shady moist ground, where but few ornamental 

 plants will thrive, they should not be excluded from any 

 good garden. 



3. Gentians Purpuea ; Purple Gentian. Corollas usually 

 five-cleft, bell-shaped, in whorls; calices truncate; root as 

 thick as a man's arm, and two feet long, white within, and 

 striated on the outside, extremely bitter, and used medicinally 

 in some countries, instead of the second species, with great 

 success. The stem is smaller than that, about a foot or a 

 foot and a half only in height; the leaves somewhat broader. 

 Native of Denmark, Switzerland, and Silesia. This, and 

 the following, to the thirteenth species, may be cultivated in 

 the same manner as the second species. 



4. Gentiana Macrophylla; Long-leaved Gentian. Flowers 

 five-cleft, sessile, in whorls ; root-leaves equal to the stem, 

 which is almost naked; root creeping, with a transverse 

 stock, and abundance of whitish fibres; root-leaves often a 

 span in length, standing up above the stem, broad, lanceo- 

 late, five-nerved, sheathing at the base ; flowering-stem com- 

 ing out on the side of these, procumbent at bottom, but gra- 

 dually rising, having only one or two pairs of leaves, besides 

 the floral ones on the top; calix small, membranaceous,. un- 

 equally four-toothed ; corolla small, of a livid pale colour, the 

 border pale blue, four or five cleft ; the segments very short, 

 and sharpish. The herbaceous part is hardly bitter. It 

 flowers in July and August, and is a general inhabitant of 

 Siberia, especially the eastern part, where, Professor Pallas 

 says, it is easily raised from seed. 



5. Gentiana Campanulata ; Bell-shaped Gentian. Corollas 

 bell-shaped, seven-cleft, streaked, unspotted ; calices seven- 

 cleft; root yellow on the outside, very bitter, fusiform, 

 branched ; stem smooth and even, from dark blue becoming 

 green, erect, two spans in height, round, but alternately some- 

 what ancipital between the joints ; flowers almost sessile, in 

 two or three whorls, in each axil from one to three. It 

 flowers in July, and is found on Mount Garten in Richenau 

 in Carinthia. 



6. Gentiana Punctata ; Spotted-flowered Gentian. Co- 

 rollas bell-shaped, five-cleft or thereabouts, dotted ; calices 

 five-toothed ; segments of the border commonly seven, some- 

 times eight, but very seldom six, always shorter, narrower, 

 contiguous, rounded, blunt, without any auricles at the base; 

 and finally, the bellying of the corolla is blunter, and almost 

 the same over the whole bell. Native of Austria, Silesia, 

 Italy, &c. 



7. Gentiana Pannonica; Rough Gentian. Corollas bell- 

 shaped, six or seven-cleft, dotted; calices usually six-cleft; 

 stem-leaves lanceolate, acuminate; root yellowish on the 

 outside, whitish within, intensely bitter. The whole plant 

 is smooth and shining; stem from half a foot to two 

 feet in height, round, or slightly angular, erect, a finger 

 thick at the base, which is covered with sheathing scales, 

 having a bifid or trifid mouth; leaves opposite, broad 

 ovate or lanceolate, acute, quite entire, bright green, 

 somewhat plaited, having five prominent pale nerves on 

 the back, attenuated into connate petioles, flowers from 

 the axils, on very short peduncles, three, four, or fire, 

 seldom more on each side, forming whorls, supported 

 by bractes resembling the leaves. There are commonly 

 two or three whorls, with flowers much more numer- 

 ous in the upper one; but iu smaller plants there i* 



