Gratiola officinalis L. - Scrophulariaceae - gratiole, hedge hyssop, Gottesgnadenkraut, Gottes-Gnadenkraut

Perennial herb, up to 20cm tall, native to Europe, Western and Central Asia; rhizomes horizontal; leaves sessile, oblanceolate, lanceolate, or linear, margin serrate; flowers tubular, white with yellow base.
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=210000674

Cucurbitacines are the bitter principle of G.officinalis:
„The dried aboveground parts ('Herba Gratiolae') were used in medicine as a purgative anthelminthic as well as to cure gout and liver deseases. Today it is used in homoeopathic doses for the treatment of inflammatory affections of the digestive system…
A number of different cucurbitacines have been isolated, including elaterinide (1), which is supposed to be responsible for the cardiotoxic activity of Herba Gratiolae. Other cucurbitacine derivatives are desacetyl-elaterinide (2), and the aglycones of 1 and 2, cucurbitacine E and cucurbitacine I…“
[New cucurbitacine glycosides from Gratiola officinalis L., Rothenburger, J., Haslinger, E., Monatshefte für Chemie/Chemical Monthly, Vol.126(12), 1995, 1331-1339]

„The dried top of the G. officinalis is diuretic and emetic… The herb apparently tastes very bitter and the bitter principles are due to glycosides of cucurbitacin (Grayer and Tomas, 1995). Side effects of the its over-use include nausea, acrid poisoning, nymphomania, leanliness, abortion, kidney damage and bowel haemorrhage.“
[Phytopharmacological profile of Gratiola officinalis Linn.: A review., Zia-Ul-Haq, M., Kausar, A., Shahid, S. A., Qayum, M., Ahmad, S., Khan, I., J. Med. Plants Res, Vol.6(16), 2012, 3087-3092]
http://www.academicjournals.org/app/webroot/article/article1380871017_Zia-ul-haq%20et%20al%202.pdf

Blackwell, E., Herbarium Blackwellianum, vol.5 t.411 (1765)
http://plantgenera.org/species.php?id_species=479152

Gratiola officinalis, Zurndorf, Leithaboden 2017; author: Rolf Marschner, www.botanische-spaziergaenge.at