Definition of "gentian" []

• Any of numerous plants of the genus Gentiana, characteristically having showy, variously colored flowers. (noun)
• The dried rhizome and roots of a yellow-flowered European gentian, G. lutea, sometimes used as a tonic. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The Marmolata having retired from the scene, we now turn back, taking a short cut across the dreary "Col" and finding by the way some exquisite specimens of wild Daphne (Daphne Cneorum), abundance of the small mountain gentian (Gentiana verna), and large clusters of a very lovely, tiny pink flower with wax-like petals, minute and close as a lichen, and unlike anything that either of us has ever seen before."
• "I use it, or another herb called gentian in animals as a tincture to stimulate appetite."
• "One of only two brands of bitters to survive prohibition, it's derived from a flowering plant known as a gentian, and is thinner than many other bitters, with less cloying flavors."