Witnessed by: Western · Unani
Gentian (Gentiana lutea), of the Gentianaceae family. Stout perennial with a thick branching root and whorls of yellow flowers; native range: mountain pastures of central and southern Europe. Globally recognized as jantiana in Arabic, and yellow gentian, bitterwort, felwort, baldmoney in English. The part used is root and rhizome. A long yellow-brown root, sweetish at the first touch then unfolding into a clean, intense and enduring bitterness.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
GENTIAN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Gentian
- Scientific name
- Gentiana lutea L.
- Family
- Gentianaceae
Form
- Part used
- root and rhizome
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- bitter, intensely and cleanly so
- Unani
- bitter, pure and lasting
Temperature
Western: hot (hot & dry)
Unani: hot & dry (3rd degree)
convergence: both {witness_count} witnesses read it as a warming, drying bitter that stirs a cold, sluggish digestion
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- stomach · liver · digestion
- Unani
- stomach · liver · spleen
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- bitter tonic, stomachic, sialagogue, cholagogue, febrifuge, anthelmintic, emmenagogue
- Unani
- mufatteh-e-sudad (deobstruent), muqawwi-e-meda wa jigar (tonic to stomach and liver), daf-e-hummiyat (febrifuge), hazim (digestive); a chief ingredient of the great theriacs
Cautions
- Contraindications
- gastric and duodenal ulcer and hyperacidity; pregnancy in large medicinal doses
- Toxicity
- large doses may cause nausea, headache and vomiting
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