Little Centaury.
Centaurium minus.
A PRETTY wild plant which flowers in autumn, in our dry places. It is eight or ten inches high; the leaves are oblong, broad, and blunt at the point; the stalks are stiff, firm, and erect; and the flowers are of a fine pale red. There grows a cluster of leaves an inch long or more from the root; the stalks divided toward the top into several branches, and the flowers are long and slender, and stand in a cluster.
This is an excellent stomatic; its taste is a pleasant bitter, and given in infusion; it strengthens the stomach, creates an appetite, and is good also against obstructions of the liver and spleen. It is on this last account greatly recommended in jaundices; and the country people cure agues with it dried and powdered.
As there are a greater and lesser celandine, there is also a great as well as this little centaury; but the large kind is not a native of our country, nor used by us in medicine.
