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Latin Name:	GENTIANA KURROO
Hindi Name:	TRYMAANAA / TRAYAMANA / TRAYAMANA / KARU
English Name:	GENTIAN


Family Name:	GENTIACEAE

Guna:	LIGHT(LAGHU)/DRY(ROOKSHA)
Rasa:	BITTER(TIKTA)
Veerya:	COLD(SHEETA) / HOT(USHNA)
Vipak:	PUNGENT(KATU)
Actions:	BITTER TONIC, ANTIPYRETIC,, ALTERATIVE


Dosha Reducing:	VATA / KAPHA

Research On this Medicine

G. kurroo Royle
D.E.P., III, 486; Fl. Br. Ind., IV, 117.
HINDI & BENG.--Karu, kutki .
PUNJAB--Nilkant, nilakil ; KASHMIR--Nilkanth ; BOMBAY--Pakhanbhed,
phashanveda .
A small perennial herb with a stout rhizome bearing decumbent
flowering stems, each with 1-4 blue flowers, commonly found in Kashmir
and north-western Himalayas, at altitudes of 5,000-11,000 ft. Leaves
radical and cauline, the former oblong-lanceolate and tufted, and the
tatter linear and in pairs united at the base into a tube.
The dried rhizomes and roots of G. kurroo, described under the name
INDIAN GENTIAN in I.P.C., are used as a substitute for the true gentian
and exported from the hills to the plains. The plant does not seem to
have been cultivated on a large scale anywhere in India. It takes some
years to produce flowers and considerable time elapses before the roots
reach marketable size.  The rhizomes and roots of Picrorhiza kurrooa
Royle ex Benth. another herb found in the Himalayas, have similar
properties and uses and are mixed with or substituted for those of G.
kurroo. The common vernacular and trade name Kutki is applied to both
(Datta & Mukerji, 1950, 95, 108).
Indian gentian consists of simple, occasionally branched,
cylindrical, brownish pieces, usually 2.5-8.0 cm. long and 1-1.5 cm. or
more in diameter, generally longitudinally wrinkled and somewhat
twisted; the rhizomes usually annulate at the tip. It is used as a
bitter tonic for improving appetite and stimulating gastric secretion.
It enters into many stomachic and tonic preparations. It is agreeable
to taste and because of the absence of tannin it has no astringent
action. The drug is also administered in fevers and urinary complaints.
It is used as a masala for fattening horses  (I.P.C., 111; Datta &
Mukerji, 1950, 96; Kirt. & Basu, III, 1662).
Analysis of the drug from Kashmir gave 20% aqueous extract and 0.70%
ash, but no gentiopicrin. A  transparent,  brittle,  odourless  and
tasteless resin was present to the extent of c . 20%. The comparatively
low percentage of water-soluble substances and the absence of gentiopi
crin in the sample were probably due to the unsatisfactory method of
drying employed at the source (I.P.C., loc. cit.; Datta & Mukerji, loc.
cit.).
The ethyl acetate fraction of the ethanolic extract of the rhizome
and roots revealed the presence of five iridoid  glycosides. The major
one was identified as 6'-cinnamoylcatalpol. The plant possesses smooth
muscle relaxant effcts and prevents histamine release from mast cells
(Chem Abstr, 1991, 15, 110555).
G. tenella Rottb.=Gentianella tenella H. Smith and G. decumbens Linn.
f. are bitter herbs occurring at high altitudes in the Himalayas. A
decoction of the former is used as febrifuge; a tincture of G.
decumbens  is used as stomachic. The rhizomes and roots of the two
species and perhaps also of a few other species of Gentiana, are used
as substitutes of gentian (Kirt. & Basu, III, 1661, 1662; I.P.C, loc.
cit.).
The flowering tops of G. olivieri Griseb. syn. G. dahurica Fisch.,
known as Gul-i-ghafis in Indian bazaars, are reported to be imported
from Persia. The  drug  has  properties  similar  to gentian. It is
used in Persia as a cure for ringworm of the scalp in children. The
plant is used as a sudorific in Baluchistan (Chopra, 492: Dymock,
Warden & Hooper, II. 508; Kirt. & Basu. III, 1663).

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