N. 0. GENTIANACEiE. 851 



803. S. Ghirata, Earn, h.f.b.i., iv. 124. 



Syn :— Gentiana Cliirayta, Roxb. 264. Ophelia Chirata, Griseb. 

 Vern. : — Charayatah (Hind, and Dec); Qasabuzzarirah (Arab. 



and Pers.) ; Shiratkuchchi, nila-vembu (Tarn.); Nila vern (Tel.); 

 Nila-veppa (Mai.); Nela-bevu (Kan.); Kiratatikta bbunimba 

 (Sans.); Chireta (Beng.) ; Kirayat (Mr.); Chiravata (Guz.) ; 

 Sekhagi (Burm.) ; Ohiraita, kirafta (Bom.). 



Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bhotan 

 and Khasia Mts. 



Perennial herbs. Stem 2-5ft., 4-lineolate or subterete. 

 Leaves 2 by fin., the lower often much larger sometimes petiol- 

 ed. Cauline leaves subsessile, elliptic acute, 5-nerved. Panicles 

 many-fid, large, leafy. Pedicies 0-fin., fascicled, mostly short. 

 Flowers 4-merous. Calyx-lobes Jin., lanceolate. Corolla lurid- 

 green, yellow near the base of each lobe, 2 glandular depressions, 

 each terminated by long hairs. Corolla-lobes ^in., ovate, acu- 

 minate, more or less purple-nerved. Filaments linear, free. 

 Anthers oblong. Style cylindric. Stigma oblong. Capsule 

 i-in., and upwards, ovate, acute; seeds 5 3 i n '> polyhedral, smooth, 

 testa close, not reticulated. 



Uses: — The medicinal herb, as met with in the bazars, 

 consists of bundles of dried twigs of brownish colour, " and 

 very bitter, but pleasant taste. The whole plant is used medi- 

 cinally, but the root is said to be the most powerful. The 

 natives consider it as tonic, stomachic and febrifuge, and pre- 

 scribe a decoction or infusion of it, in the quantity of a small 

 tea-cupful, twice daily" {Ainslie, Mat. Med. II., p. 373). Drury 

 says it should not be taken as a decoction, but in infusion 

 or watery extract or as a tincture. The boiling would, accord- 

 ing to some others, injure the strength of the drug. Chiretta 

 is much prized in India as a powerful tonic, pure bitter, without 

 aroma or astringency. It is more bitter than English Gentian, 

 and, while little used in Europe, it is reported to be especially 

 serviceable in the dyspepsia of gouty subjects (Bentely Sc 

 Trimen). The Sanskrit name Kiratatikta means " the bitter 

 plant of the Kiratas, an outcast race of the mountaineers in 



