Greater Centaury. See Botany Index. There are 61 species belonging to this genus. The root of one of them, called glaustifolia, is an article in the materia medica. It has a rough, somewhat acid taste, and abounds with a red viscid juice. Its rough taste has gained it some esteem as an astringent, its acrimony as an aperient, and its glutinous quality as a vulnerary; but the present practice takes very little notice of it in any intention. Another of the species is the cyanus or blue bottle, which grows commonly among corn. The expressed juice of this flower stains linen of a beautiful blue colour, but is not permanent. Mr Boyle says, that the juice of the inner petals, with a little alum, makes a beautiful permanent colour, equal to ultramarine.

Lesser Centaury. See Gentiana, Botany Index.