432 LEGUMINOSZ. 
‘This root, when dried, coincides so exactly with the liquorice 
root of the shops, that it is often sold for it in the bazaars in 
Bengal.’ Other writers repeat the same statement, one which 
we cannot confirm, as we consider the root to bear very little 
resemblance to liquorice either as regards appearance or quali- 
ties ; as pointed out by Mr. Moidfn Sheriff, the leaves are by 
far the sweetest part of the plant, and from them a tolerable 
extract may be made, but in most parts of India, where true 
liquorice is obtainable in any quantity as an article of com- 
merce, it would be much more expensive to collect them than 
to use liquorice. 
Description.— Leaves 2 to 3 inches long, abruptly pin- 
nated, leaflets 8 to 20 pair, linear oval, obtuse at both ends, 
glabrous or slightly hairy, membranous, deciduous, 3 to $ of 
an inch long, and + to } of an inch broad, taste sweet and like 
that of liquorice. Seeds bright scarlet, with a black spot at one 
end ; white, polished, smaller than a pea; average weight, scarlet 
variety 1°75, black 1-77, and white 1:97 grains. Root longs 
woody, hard, and much branched, seldom more than } inch in 
diameter. Cortical layer very thin, reddish-brown ; wood 
yellowish white; odour and taste acrid, hardly at all sweet. 
Microscopic structure.— Within the middle zone of the bark 
is a layer of sclerenchymatous tissue. Liber fibres are scat- 
tered through the interior of the cortical tissue, but do not form 
wedge-shaped rays as in liquorice. 
The seeds have been examined by Dr. D. D. Cunningham 
of Calcutta. (Ind. Med. Gaz., 1882.) Proceeding from with- 
out inwards he found—Ist, a single layer of thick-walled, colum- 
nar cells containing colouring matter, each cell dilated peri- 
pherally, and in many cases having a slight basal bulbosity. 
The peripheral dilated portion was observed to be cut up into 
a number of more or less cuneate portions ; 2nd, a thick stratum 
of small cells, with thick walls and irregular sinuous outlines ; 
8rd, a thick stratum of large thin-walled cells; 4th, a thin stra- 
_ tam of small also thin-walled cells; 5th, a stratum of elongated . 
thin-walled cells; 6th, a stratum of thickened cells, two oF 
