Official name: Centaury

Latin name: Centaurium Erythraea L.

Other names: red gall, bitter gourd, grandmother's licorice, grandmother

Description: Centaury - an annual or biennial herbaceous plant of the Cruciferae family. It is found all over Bulgaria in meadows and in places with an altitude of up to 1500 m. The root is thin, with many tender roots. In the first year of biennial plants, only the rosette is formed. The stem is ridged, up to 40 cm. high, branched only in the area of the inflorescence, glabrous. The branches are compact. Leaves opposite, elliptic. The lower leaves are obovate, collected in a rosette. The flowers are small, numerous, pink-red, located at the top of the branched column in the form of thyroid inflorescences. Blooms in summer. The seeds ripen by September. The plant has a weak odor and a very bitter taste.

Part of the herb used: the herbs (Herba Centauri).

Harvesting time: The harvesting time of the plant is from June to August, cutting off the entire aerial part together with the ground leaves at the beginning of the flowering period, while the leaves are still green. The collected material is dried in ventilated rooms without direct sunlight or in dryers at a temperature of up to 40°.

Chemical Composition/Contents and Properties: Centaurium contains bitter glucosides, alkaloids, triterpenes, vitamin C, oleanolic acid, phenolic acids, traces of nicotinic acid, some resinous and waxy substances.

Medicinal action and application: In herbal medicine, it is used as a bitter to stimulate the appetite and to improve digestion in stomach problems, constipation, heartburn, colic, flatulence, anemia, as well as a means to reduce temperature. St. John's wort tones the stomach, improves the secretion of gastric, bile and pancreatic juice and acts as a carminative. I also apply it in the presence of red parasites in the body. Externally, it is used for purulent, slow-healing wounds and boils. The plant is also widely used in the brewing industry to obtain the necessary bitterness of beer.

Possibilities to offer at the customer's request:

Vesselino Ltd. offers their customers the plant in the following varieties:

• herbs (Herba Centauri) - dried whole, crushed, cut to a certain size at the customer's request, ground into herbal powder/flour