344 SUBTERRANEAN ORGANS 



small, black buds but only an occasional root or root-scar ; near the 

 apex are the black remains of closely approximated scaly leaves. 

 They are light in weight, break readily with a short fracture dis- 

 closing a very dark, lacunous interior. The section exhibits a thin, 

 pale grey cork and a narrow ring of tangentially extended wood 

 bundles. Taste very bitter. 



Constituents. The chief constituent is the bitter, crystalline 

 glucoside, picrorhizin. 



Uses. Tonic and antiperiodic. 



GENTIAN ROOT 



(Radix Gentianae) 



Source, &C. Gentian root is the dried root and rhizome of the 

 yellow gentian, Gentidna lutea, Linne (N.O. Gentianece), a stately herb 

 with large, opposite, broadly ovate leaves and yellow flowers. It is 

 indigenous to central Europe, growing abundantly on the lower 

 slopes of the Jura and Vosges mountains, in the Black Forest, in the 

 Pyrenees and European Turkey. Large quantities are imported from 

 Spain. The root has long been used as a medicine. 



The plant produces an erect rhizome, from which large fleshy 

 roots are given off ; the latter take a more or less horizontal course 

 a short distance below the surface of the earth, and attain a con- 

 siderable length. Both rhizome and roots are collected in the autumn 

 and dried ; they are occasionally, but not often, sliced longitudinally. 

 When fresh they are whitish internally and almost odourless, but 

 during the slow drying to which they are subjected the colour changes 

 to a yellowish brown, and a distinctive odour is developed. So much 

 are the particular colour and odour required, that in some districts 

 the practice prevails of heaping the fresh root and allowing it to 

 heat and ferment before drying it ; by this treatment it darkens 

 in colour and acquires the desired odour. Gentian root that has 

 been longitudinally sliced or strung upon strings and quickly dried 

 is paler and more bitter, and has an odour less strong than that which 

 has not been so treated. 



Description. Gentian root is usually seen in nearly cylindrical 

 pieces of varying length and thickness, but seldom more than 15 mm. 

 in diameter. The roots, which differ in appearance from the rhizomes, 

 are of a yellowish brown colour, and much shrivelled and wrinkled 

 longitudinally. They are tough and flexible when slightly moist, 

 but when quite dry they are brittle. They break with a very short 

 fracture, and internally are usually of a reddish brown colour and 

 spongy. The transverse section exhibits a dark line (cambium) 



