Five-flowered gentian

Weak, enfeebled digestion with a poor appetite and a tendency to loose, mucoid stools

Low-grade, recurring feverishness with periodicity in a person of feeble digestive tone

Overview. Gentianella quinquefolia is a small annual or biennial gentian native to open woods and meadows of eastern North America, historically classed among the true gentians before its reclassification into the genus Gentianella. The dried aerial parts (tops) and root were used by nineteenth century American eclectic physicians much as European gentian root was used, as a simple bitter tonic. It never achieved wide official standing but was regarded by eclectic writers as a home-grown substitute worthy of more attention than it received.

Clinical Notes. This is a straightforward bitter, used in the same clinical situations as other gentians: a weak or capricious appetite, sluggish digestion, and the general debility of convalescence. Eclectic practitioners favored it particularly where there was a chronic mucous discharge, whether from the bowel as a loose, mucoid stool, or from the respiratory or urinary mucosa, viewing it as a tonic to enfeebled mucous tissue generally rather than a specific antidiarrheal.

Action, Medical Uses, and Dosage. Bitter tonic, anthelmintic, and astringent. Formerly much used in dyspepsia, intermittents, dysentery, and all diseases of periodicity. To 2 ounces of the tops and roots, pour on 1 ½ pints of boiling water, and when nearly cold, add ½ pint of brandy.

History. This plant is found growing in dry grounds, especially through the middle and low country of the southern states, flowering in September and October. Said likewise to inhabit Canada, and the western states, but this must be rare. The root is the medicinal part, and the tops are also often employed. They are bitter to the taste, and probably possess the medicinal properties, in a greater or less degree, of the other plants of the same family. Alcohol or boiling water extracts their virtues. None of the American Gentians seem to have been satisfactorily analyzed.