Ask a question about this plant in natural language.
Chirata
Swertia chirata · Gentianaceae
The great Himalayan bitter — chirata, the febrifuge and liver herb of the high mountains.
Chirata is a tall, elegant Himalayan annual whose entire plant brims with one of the most prized bitters in the classical pharmacopoeia. Its Sanskrit name Kiratatikta — "the bitter of the Kirata hill tribes" — records its mountain origins; Ayurveda employs it for intermittent fevers, sluggish liver and skin conditions.
An erect annual herb 60-150 cm with a yellowish, four-angled stem branching upward. Lance-shaped leaves in pairs, and numerous small green-yellow flowers with a striking purple-tinged corolla veined in deep violet. The whole plant is intensely bitter to the taste.