N. 0. GENTIANAOE.®. 
851 
803. S. Chirata, Ham. h.f.b.i., iv. 124. 
Syn : — Gentiana Chi ray ta, Roxb. 264. Ophelia Chirata, Oriseb. 
Vem. : — Charayatah (Hind, and Dec.); Qasabuzzarirah (Arab, 
and Pers.) ; Sliiratkuchchi, nila-v4mbu (Tam.); Nila v4m (Tel.); 
Nila->v4ppa (Mai.); Nela-bevu (Kan.); Kiratatikta bhunimba 
(Sans.) ; Chiretd (Beng.) ; Kirdyat (Mr.) ; Chiravata (Guz.) ; 
Sekhdgi (Barm.); Ohiriita, kirdfta (Bom.). 
Habitat : — Temperate Himalaya, from Kashmir to Bhotan 
and Kliasia 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-|in., fascicled, mostly short. 
Flowers 4-merous. Calyx-lobes ^in., lanceolate. Corolla lurid- 
green, yellow near the base of each lobe, 2 glandular depressions, 
each terminated by long hairs. Corolla-lobes fin., ovate, acu- 
minate, more or less purple-nerved. Filaments linear, free. 
Anthers oblong. Style cylindric. Stigma oblong. Capsule 
4 ~in-> and upwards, ovate, acute; seeds ^in., polyhedral, smooth, 
testa close, not reticulated. 
Uses: — The medicinal herb, as met with in the bazais, 
consists of bundles of dried twigs of brownish colour, “and 
very bitter, hut 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 & 
Trimen). Tho Sanskrit name Kiratatikta means “the bitter 
plant of the Kiratas, an outcast race of the mountaineers in 
