Useful and healing properties of gentian yellow
Perennial herbaceous plant up to 1.2 m in height. The root is cylindrical, long, slightly branched, with time replaced by subordinate roots. The stem is one( or several), erect, cylindrical, bare.
Leaves opposite, coalescing with their bases in pairs, semi-stalks complex, wide-ovoid, simple, entire, with strongly vychayuschimisya 5-7 veins. The basal leaves are elliptical, short-petioled, half-stems intact. The flowers are yellow, collected in bundles in the sinuses of the stem leaves. Stamens 5-6, pistil one. Fruit - single-cavity bivalve capsule. Blossoms in July-August. Distributed in the Transcarpathian regions of Ukraine.
Medicinal raw materials are the accessory roots and rhizomes collected in the early spring or autumn, they are thoroughly cleaned from the ground, cut to pieces and quickly dried at a temperature of 50-60 degrees( in dryers) or in the shade in the air to prevent fermentation. At roots weak, aromatic, honey smell and very bitter taste.
Finished raw materials are reddish-brown, roots up to 60 cm long, brittle, smooth, radiant, yellow. Stored raw materials in boxes due to its hygroscopicity.
The roots and rhizomes of the yellow gentian contain a very bitter glycoside, gentiopecrin( transient in long storage and fermentation into cenciamyrin), gencianine, gentisine, sucrose, a special trisaccharide, split into 1 part of fructose and 2 parts of glucose, fatty oil( up to 6%) andmany pectin substances, resin and mucus.
Gentian yellow is used as bitterness as an appetizing stimulant, a digestive aid. Gentian has also a restorative and antipyretic properties and is a better remedy than a thousand-square-centimeter.
Apply gentian more often in the form of 10% alcohol tincture of 20 drops for 15-30 minutes before meals.
In folk medicine, decoction of roots and rhizomes of gentian is used in the absence of appetite, bowel flaccidity, constipation, gout, arthritis, for general strengthening of the body, with various stomach diseases, also helps in diseases of the spleen and liver, scrofula, jaundice, cough, fever, dysentery, removes persistent heartburn and increases appetite.
Hot strong broth, prepared from a mixture of 1 part of the roots and rhizomes of the gentian and 3 parts of the oak bark, is considered a good remedy against the foul sweating of the feet. In this broth it is recommended to soar your feet before going to bed.
Application of
It is recommended to prepare the broth in small portions, because it easily spoils. Prepares the broth at the rate of 15-20 g of roots and rhizomes per 1 liter of water( boiling water), take 1 tbsp.spoon 3 times a day;or 20 g per 200 ml or 1 part of the roots and rhizomes per 10 parts of boiling water, take 1 tbsp.spoon 3 times a day for half an hour before meals.
Tincture on vodka: 50 g of herb per 0.5 liter of vodka, insist for 8 days( on wine - 21 days), take 30-40 drops per 6 tbsp.spoons of water 3 times a day.
Powder: sprinkle festering wounds with a mixture of gentian powders and chamomile flowers, taken in equal parts.
Gentian has also found application in the brewing industry to give some beers a kind of bitter taste and in alcoholic beverage production.