Centaury

CENTAURY (popular name "gold herb" and others), Erythraea centaurium Pers., of the family Gentianaceae (gentians), is an annual (or, depending on the place of growth, biennial) herbaceous plant distributed in Central and Southern Europe, North Africa, and America, and cultivated in some regions of the USSR (formerly Tula, Kursk provinces, etc.). The root of the centaury is short and thin, the stem is straight, four-sided, 10–35 cm in height.

The basal leaves are slightly fleshy, smooth, and gathered in a rosette; the stem leaves are opposite, sessile, oblong, or lanceolate. The flowers are gathered in a dense semi-umbel, pink in color. It blooms from mid-June to September. Centaury is harvested at the beginning of flowering in its entirety; only the flowering tops are used, which are sold under the name Herba Centaurii majoris.

Centaury has no scent; its taste is purely bitter and is caused by the presence of a number of bitter substances: the levorotatory glycoside erythaurin, the resin-like substance erythramarin, etc. (In addition to these, it contains up to 6.3% of the tasteless glycoside erythrocentaurin.) In folk medicine, centaury is used for a wide variety of diseases: malaria, scrofula, consumption, etc.; in medical practice, it has long been prescribed as a bitter to increase appetite and improve digestion and absorption (for dyspepsia, etc.). It belongs to the group of pure bitters (amara pura), containing neither essential oils nor mucilaginous substances. Centaury is used for the preparation of Tinctura amara, and is occasionally used in powders and mixtures, as well as in the form of infusions and decoctions.