Ethnobotanical and general use

Medicinal use
Many species of Gentiana contain a bitter principle, used medically as a tonic, a stomachic and as a stimulant of digestion. A bitter glucoside, gentiopicrin, is not only found in G. lutea, a plant which is very well known in home-medicine. In this species, the root is the most useful part. All medically used species of Gentiana are more or less applied for the same purposes. CORREA & BERNAL (ED. SECAB 1993) presented a complete list of all species of Gentiana studied concerning their chemical contents. The list comprises 68 pages and contains more than 80 species (some of them are not identified), indicating the used analyzed parts and their chemical compounds. The best studied organ is the root, followed by leaf, axis and flower. G. lutea is certainly the best studied species concerning its chemical contents. Gentianin, gentiopicrin, amarogentin, gentialutin were found besides countless other substances, such as bellidifolin and even chinic acid.

South American medicinal plants : botany, remedial properties, and general use / I. Roth, H. Lindorf. Berlin ; New York : Springer, c2002. -- p. 492.