Other names and synonyms
gent-q.Description Source
Dictionary of Practical Materia Medica - J.H. ClarkePharmacological Group
Description
Five-flowered Gentian. Gall of the Earth. N. O. Gentianaceae. Decoction of the herb. Tincture of fresh plant in flower (September, October).
Nosology
Anorexia. Intermittent fever.
Typical features
This unproved Gentian has a great popular reputation in Ohio and other parts of the United States as an antiperiodic and tonic. Hale quotes Yelvington of Susquehanna (who says he learned its value from a tribe of Indians) as saying he has succeeded in obstinate intermittents where Quinine and other anti-periodics had failed. He used the decoction of the herb. A fluid extract or the saturated tincture is a better form for administration in fever. It is a valuable tonic for old cases of dyspepsia and torpid liver. It is a pleasant bitter, and appears to be, like the other Gentians, a positive tonic. Doctor Yelvington also used it in cases of infantile fever and cholera infantum. As a tonic in enfeebled patients and in chronic diseases, he says, it is a remedy par excellence, appearing to exert an action over the organs of nutrition and assimilation, as well as being a stimulant to the excretory organs.