Editing Gentiana (section)

==Uses==
Many beverages are made with gentian root.<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Strewe L | url = http://gentian.rutgers.edu/ethno_drink.htm | title = Ethnobotany of gentians | work = Gentian Research Network }}</ref> ''[[Gentiana lutea]]'' is used to produce [[Gentian (spirit)|''gentian'']], a [[distilled beverage]] produced in the [[Alps]] and in the [[Auvergne]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.salers-tourisme.fr/en/espace-aveze | title=Espace Avèze &#124; Office de Tourisme du Pays de Salers | access-date=2022-04-16 | archive-date=2022-12-14 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221214175329/https://www.salers-tourisme.fr/en/espace-aveze | url-status=dead }}</ref> Some species are harvested for the manufacture of [[Apéritif and digestif|apéritifs]], [[liqueur]]s, and [[Herbal tonic|tonics]].

Gentian root is a common beverage flavouring for [[bitters]]. The [[soft drink]] [[Moxie]] contains gentian root.<ref name=huff>{{cite web | vauthors = Orchant R | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/moxie-soda-new-england_n_2784571.html | title = Moxie: The distinctively different soda that New England loves | work = The Huffington Post | date = March 1, 2013 }}</ref> The French apéritif [[Suze (drink)|Suze]] is made with gentian. [[Quinquina|Americano apéritifs]] contain gentian root for bitter flavoring.<ref name=verm>{{cite web | url = http://vermouth101.com/quinquinas.html | title = Quinquina & Americano by Brand | work = Vermouth 101 }}</ref> It is an ingredient in the Italian liqueur [[Aperol]].  It is also used as the main flavor in the German after-dinner digestif called [[Underberg]], and the main ingredient in [[Angostura bitters]] and [[Peychaud's Bitters]].

The principal bitter component of gentian root is gentiopicrin (also called gentiopicroside),<ref>PubChem. Gentiopicroside. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Gentiopicrin</ref> a [[glycoside]]. A 2007 paper by a Japanese group identified 23 compounds in fresh gentian root.<ref>The chemical constituents of fresh Gentian Root, Hidehiro Ando, Yasuaki Hirai, Mikio Fujii, Yumiko Hori, Motonori Fukumura, Yujiro Niiho, Yoshijiro Nakajima, Toshiro Shibata, Kazuo Toriizuka, Yoshiteru Ida. ''Journal of Natural Medicines''. July 2007, Volume 61, Issue 3, pp. 269–279. {{doi|10.1007/s11418-007-0143-x}}</ref> Gentiopicrin was absent from the fresh root, so it possibly developed during drying and storage of the root.

Gentian has had limited use in perfumery, most notably as a glycerine soap (Crabtree & Evelyn) and a perfume (Corday's Possession, 1937).

The young plant and old leaves of at least one species, ''[[Gentiana scabra]]'', are edible when cooked and have historically been used as a famine food when other food sources were scarce.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kunkel |first=Günther |title=Plants for human consumption: an annotated checklist of the edible phanerogams and ferns |date=1984 |publisher=Koeltz Scientific Books |isbn=978-3-87429-216-0 |location=Koenigstein}}</ref>

===Pharmacological uses===
[[Great yellow gentian]] (''Gentiana lutea'') is used in [[herbal medicine]] for digestive problems, fever, [[hypertension]], [[muscle spasm]]s, [[parasitic worm]]s, wounds, cancer, sinusitis, and [[malaria]],<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-716-GENTIAN.aspx?activeIngredientId=716&activeIngredientName=GENTIAN | title = Gentian  | work = WebMD }}</ref> although studies have shown minimal efficacy beyond that of a [[placebo]] with regard to the treatment of anxiety and ADHD in children.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ernst E | title = Bach flower remedies: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials | journal = [[Swiss Medical Weekly]] | volume = 140 | pages = w13079 | date = August 2010 | pmid = 20734279 | doi = 10.4414/smw.2010.13079 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="WalachRilling">{{cite journal | vauthors = Walach H, Rilling C, Engelke U | title = Efficacy of Bach-flower remedies in test anxiety: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial with partial crossover | journal = Journal of Anxiety Disorders | volume = 15 | issue = 4 | pages = 359–66 | year = 2001 | pmid = 11474820 | doi = 10.1016/S0887-6185(01)00069-X }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Pintov S, Hochman M, Livne A, Heyman E, Lahat E | title = Bach flower remedies used for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children—a prospective double blind controlled study | journal = European Journal of Paediatric Neurology | volume = 9 | issue = 6 | pages = 395–8 | year = 2005 | pmid = 16257245 | doi = 10.1016/j.ejpn.2005.08.001 }}</ref> Gentian has been shown to manage [[dyspepsia]] by eliciting [[Cephalic phase|cephalic]] responses that increase [[vascular resistance]] and reduce the workload of the heart during digestion.<ref name="McMullen_2015">{{cite journal | vauthors = McMullen MK, Whitehouse JM, Towell A | title = Bitters: Time for a New Paradigm | journal = Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine | volume = 2015 | pages = 670504 | date = 2015 | pmid = 26074998 | pmc = 4446506 | doi = 10.1155/2015/670504 | doi-access = free }}</ref>

''Gentiana punctata'' leaves and roots have been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally and externally as liqueur or tea for disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, skin, locomotor system, liver, and bile, and for pediatric problems, fever, flu, rheumatism, and gout.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Vogl S, Picker P, Mihaly-Bison J, Fakhrudin N, Atanasov AG, Heiss EH, Wawrosch C, Reznicek G, Dirsch VM, Saukel J, Kopp B | title = Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—an unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs | journal = Journal of Ethnopharmacology | volume = 149 | issue = 3 | pages = 750–71 | date = October 2013 | pmid = 23770053 | pmc = 3791396 | doi = 10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007 }}</ref>

''[[Gentiana purpurea]]'', ''[[Gentiana punctata]]'', and ''[[Gentiana pannonica]]'' are used to produce [[gentian schnapps]], traditionally used as a digestive aid. In [[Ayurvedic medicine]] the endangered Indian gentian ''[[Gentiana kurroo]]'' has been used as a medical herb, but has been replaced with the Himalayan plant ''[[Picrorhiza kurroa]],'' or ''[[Picrorhiza scrophulariiflora]]'' from [[traditional Chinese medicine]].

===Symbolism===
[[File:BE DG Belgien COA.svg|thumb|[[Coat of arms]] of the [[German-speaking Community of Belgium]]]]
[[Image:Sasa Rindo.svg|thumb|right|The emblem of the Minamoto clan]]
The gentian flower was used as the emblem of the [[Minamoto clan]], one of the four great clans that dominated Japanese politics during the [[Heian period]] and went on to establish the [[Kamakura shogunate|first Shogunate]] in the aftermath of the [[Genpei War]].{{citation needed|date=March 2020}} It is the official flower (called {{Wikt-lang|de|Enzian}}) of the [[German-speaking community of Belgium]].