180 



LEGUMINOS^. 



X 

 F 



by Piero de' Crescenzi ^ of Bologna, who lived in the 13th century. The 

 cultivation of the plant in the north of England existed at the close 

 of the 16th century, but how much earlier we have not been able 

 to trace. 



As a medicine the drug was well known in Germany in the 11th 

 century, and an extensive cultivation of the plant was carried on near 

 Bamberg, Bavaria, in the 16th century, so that in many of the numerous 

 pharmaceutical tariffs of those times in Germany not only Glycyrrhir- 

 succus creticus, sen candiacus, sen venetus is quoted, but also expressly 

 that of Bamberor.^ 



The word Liquiritia, whence is derived the English name Liquorice 

 {lyycorys in the 13th century), is a corruption of Glycyrrliiza, as shp\yu 

 in the transitional mediaeval form Gliquirlcia. The It&,\\&n Regolma, 

 the German Lacrisse or Lakriz, the Welsh Lacris,^ and the French 

 RegUsse (anciently Bequelice or Recolice) have the same origin. 



growth 



The liquorice plant is culti- 

 vated in England at Mitcham and in Yorkshire, but not on a very 

 extensive scale. The plants, which require a good deep soil, well 

 enriched by manure, are set in rows, attain a height of 4 to 5 feet and 

 produce flowers but not seeds. The root is dug up at the beginning ot 

 wmter, when the plant is at least 3 or 4 years old. The latter has then 

 a crown dividing into several aerial stems. Below the crown is a pnn- 

 cipal root about 6 inches in length, which divides into several (3 to o 

 rather straight roots, running without much branching, though beset 

 with slender wiry rootlets, to a depth of 3, 4 or more feet.* Besides 

 these downward-running roots, the principal roots emit horizontal 

 runners or stolons, which grow at some distance below the surface and 

 attain a length of many feet. These runners are furnished with leai 



efuUy 



buds and throw up stems in their second year. 



Every portion of the subterraneous part of the plant is caieniu 

 saved; the roots proper are washed, trimmed, and assorted, and eitner 

 sold fresh in their entire state, or cut into short lengths and dried tne 

 cortical layer being sometimes first scraped off. The older runners di^- 

 tmguished at Mitcham n« "f,.,..^" o^^ ci,,4-^,i .^,,f and sold separate!) j 



>ft 



orulai 



o* 



among the wheat in the cornfields. 



the liq'ionce 



Description— Fresh liquorice (English) when washed is extern^ ) 

 of a bright yellowish brown. It is very flexible, easily cut ^j;'"^^„ 

 knife, exhibiting a light yellow, juicy, internal substance fhich co 

 sists of a thick bark surrounding a woody column. Both bark a^a 

 wood are extremely tough, readily tearing into long, fi^J'^us f^r r 

 ihe root has a peculiar earthy odour, and a strong and characterise 

 sweet taste. 



lib. tf 'c 6o'^" '^^'•''■'^^^'"•«, Venet. 151 1. ....u.„ - v- V ■ 



- GestiPv r,.i -n ,. ^r is written there Licras). ^^„;nds one ot 



toi-ati Hfi'i ir'." ^^V^' f "'■ ^^''^- ^rgen- * This fomi of root which reminc^ ^^^^ 



^rl^Mu ^^*- p^l^ckiger, BorMmeut, a whip with three or four lashes a"a ^^^ 



i[i '^«/"cA^. Jcr P/.«™«c(e. Halle. 187.;. «l,nrt/ l,.a,ulle. is probably ^f, ' haJU, 



century, Llandovery, ISfal, P- 

 is written there Licras). 



3S). 46. 

 * In the ' 'Metldyg 



on 



rmacit, Halle, 187(k 

 ^lyddvai" of the 1,3th 



a whip with three or four lasnc.- ^^ ^^^ 



short handle, is prol^'^t'ly /", jiitcbaW. 

 ni ethod of propagating adopteci^ ^ ^^^^^ 



where a short stick or rumo is I 



upright in the ground. 



