RADIX GLYCYRRHIZ^. LICORICE ROOT. lOI 



heavily pitted and pored. The wood fibres are few, and, as 

 a rule, quite slender ; they average 13 microns in diameter. 



Parenchyma filled with starch grains is predominant. 

 The cells vary widely in size ; they are usually oblong 

 cylindrical, generally being from two to three times as 

 long as broad, and in the main measuring 25 to 60 microns. 



Classes of corky tissues, dark and light-brown, are 

 scattered copiously throughout the powder. On clearing 

 the structure of the cells, the walls become manifest. 

 Some few tissues probably derived from the phloem may 

 be encountered with the xantho-proteic test. These 

 tissues give the characteristic proteid reaction for the 

 cell contents. They may be recognized by their delicate 

 walls and the character of their contents. 



Chemistry. — The active principle is atropine, which 

 varies from 0.2 to 5 per cent., according to the age of the 

 drug. Other less important ingredients are belladonnine, 

 starch, a red coloring-rnatter, atrosin, and a substance 

 similar to esculin. 



RADIX GLYCYRRHIZiE. LICORICE ROOT. 



Glycyrrhiza is the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, L., and of 

 the variety glandulifera (Waldstein et Kittaibel). Habi- 

 tat: Southern Europe and Western Asia; cultivated. 



Description. — In long, wrinkled pieces, from 5 to 25 

 mm. thick, longitudinally wrinkled, externally grayish- 

 brown, warty; internally yellow; pliable, tough, fracture 

 coarsely fibrous, bark thick, wood dense, taste sweet, 

 somewhat acrid. The underground stem, which is often 

 present, has the same appearance, but contains a thin 

 pith. The variety derived from G. glandulifera con- 

 sists usually of roots or root-branches i to 4 cm. thick, 

 15 to 30 cm. long, frequently deprived of the corky layer, 

 the wood soft and usually more or less cleft. Resembling 

 licorice are pyrethrum and taraxacum, but they are not 

 sweet. 



