Cen'taury

Cen'taury (Erythrea), a pretty little annual, genus of Gentianaceæ, with pink or rose coloured flowers. They possess the tonic and other medicinal virtues of gentian, and the Common Centaury (E. Centaurium) has especially been esteemed in medicine since the days of Dioscorides and Galen; and although no longer in the pharmacopœia, its flower-tops are still sometimes gathered and dried by country-people in England and the Continent; while the allied Sabbatia angularis enjoys similar repute in the United States and Canada. The Yellow Centaury is Chlora perfoliata; but plants belonging to the wholly distinct composite genus Centaurea (q.v.) are also sometimes called Centaury.