The plant is common in Europe, the Mediterranean regions, North America, and western Asia. The drug comes mainly from imports from Bulgaria, the former Yugoslavia and Hungary, and North African countries such as Morocco.
The dried aerial parts of the flowering plants (Centaurii herba) are mainly used as the drug.
Centaury: special characteristics.
Centaury is a biennial plant about 30-50 cm high. In the first year, the plant sprouts a basal rosette with elliptical leaves. In the second year, branched flower stalks with small 5-petaled pink flowers appear in flat umbels.
A species complex with over 12 subspecies is grouped under the name “Centaurium”.
Centaury as a medicine
Dried centaury consists mainly of yellow, hollow stem fragments and the reddish flowers up to 8 mm long. Less commonly, yellowish capsules containing very small seeds are found.
Centaury spreads a faint, somewhat peculiar odor. The taste of centaury is very bitter.
