LICORICE 311 



in the species of this group. About two-thirds of the Leguminosse 

 belong to this sub-division. 2, Cassalpinaceae, those plants in which 

 the corollas are imperfectly or not at all papilionaceous and some- 

 times nearly regular. These plants contain in addition to solitary 

 crystals, usually rosette aggregates of calcium oxalate. Tannin 

 sacs are, as a rule, absent or only rudimentary in their development 

 and do not appear as idioblasts. The hairs are of the unicellular 

 type, and are entirely wanting in the Papilionaceae. 3, Mimosaceae, 

 plants in which the flowers are small and regular; calcium oxalate 

 occurs either in the form of rhombohedral crystals or styloids, only 

 occasionally being embedded in the thickenings of the cell wall. 

 Rosette aggregates have been observed in Mimosa and Piptadenia. 

 Sacs corresponding to the tannin-sacs of the Papilionaceae are com- 

 mon in the strands of leptome and the contents are very various. 

 The cells are exceptionally large and the contents quite various, being 

 either colorless or yellowish, and readily soluble in water or con- 

 sisting of a mucilaginous substance containing resin and glucosidal 

 substances. In some of the members of this family the walls of the 

 cells of the pericycle, the leptome and wood undergo a metamorphosis 

 into mucilage, which then exudes and collects in the form of tears 

 upon the outside of the bark of the branches. 



GLYCYRRHIZA. Licorice Root. The dried rhizome and root 

 of Glycyrrhiza glabra, and the varieties typica and glandulifera, 

 (Fam. Leguminosse, sub-fam. Papilionaceae), perennial herbs, found 

 growing in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean region and 

 southwestern Asia and cultivated in Spain, Russia, other parts of 

 Europe, England and at one time, to a limited extent, in the United 

 States. There are two principal commercial varieties: (1) Spanish 

 Licorice, yielded by cultivated plants of G. glabra typica, and chiefly 

 exported from Spain and southern France, and (2) Russian Licorice, 

 obtained from wild plants of G. glabra glandulifera or G. echinata, 

 growing in southern Russia. The latter consists chiefly of large 

 roots deprived of the periderm, whereas the Spanish variety consists 

 mostly of unpeeled rhizomes (Fig. 139). 



Spanish (Italian) Licorice. Nearly cylindrical, more or less tor- 

 tuous, cut or broken into pieces 14 to 20 cm. in length, 5 to 25 mm. 

 in diameter; crown knotty, externally dark brown, longitudinally 

 wrinkled -pr furrowed, with few rootlet-scars, rhizome with corky 

 patches and numerous small conical buds; fracture coarsely fibrous; 

 internally lemon-yellow, radiate, bark 1 to 3 mm. in thickness, wood 

 porous, rhizome with small pith; odor distinct; taste sweetish, 

 slightly acrid. 



