Gentiana asclepiadea L. Gentianaceae. Gentian. Perennial herb. Distribution. Southern Europe and Caucasus. Named after Gentius, King of Illyria (the western Balkan Peninsula) in 181–168 BC. Gentius had a powerful navy of 270 warships (lembi) and like most kings of this era he fought constant wars, fighting with the Romans against Macedonia, and then changing sides only to be defeated and brought captive to Rome in 168 BC

asclepiadea refers to Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine. Gentius ‘discovered’ the medicinal value of the root of Gentiana lutea according to Dioscorides, who recommends it for animal bites, sprains, healing wounds and (as a pessary) as an abortifacient. Later authors note its bitter taste, and quote Galen as thus indicating its use as a purgative. Culpeper (1649) writes: ... some call it Felwort or Baldmoney. It is ... a notable counterpoison, it opens obstructions, helps the bitings of venomous beasts, and mad dogs, helps digestion, and cleanseth the body of raw humours our chyrugians [surgeons] use the root in the form of a tent to open the sore, they are also very profitable for ruptures [hernias] or such as are burnt. The root is still used as the bittering agent in Angostura bitters, the basis for a ‘Pink Gin’, and in herbal medicine for everything from malaria to snakebite. It is not the source of Gentian violet, a blue-purple dye, which is derived from coal tar. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.