RADIX GLYCYRRHIZJ^\ 1«1 



Dried liquorice root is supplied in commerce either with or without 

 the thin brown coat. In the latter state it is known as peeled or 

 decorticated. The English root, of which the supply is very limited, is 

 usually offered cut into pieces 3 or 4 inches long, and of the thickness 

 of the little finger. 



tipaniali Liquorice Root, also known as TvHosa or Alicante 

 Liquorice, is impoi*ted in bundles several feet in length, consisting of 

 straight unpeeled roots and runners, varying in thickness from J to 1 

 inch. The root is tolerably smooth or somewhat transversely cracked 

 and longitudinally wrinkled ; that from Tortosa is usually of a good 

 external appearance, that from Alicante sometimes untrimmed, dirty, of 

 very unequal size, showing frequently the knobby crowns of the root. 

 Alicante liquorice root is sometimes shipped in bags or loose. 



Russian Liquorice Root, which is much used in England, is we pre- 

 sume derived from G. glabra yait.glcradidifera. It is imported from Ham- 

 burg in large bales, and is met with both peeled and unpeeled. The 

 pieces are \'l to 18 inches long, with a diameter of \ of an inch to 1 or 

 even 2 inches. Sometimes very old roots, split down the centre and 

 forming channelled pieces as much as 3| inches wide at the crown 

 end, are to be met with. This liquorice in addition to being sweet has 

 a certain amount of bitterness. 



Microscopic Structure — The root exhibits well-marked struc- 

 tural peculiarities. The coi'ky layer is made up of the usual tabular 

 cells ; the primary cortical tissue of a few rows of cells. The chief 

 portion of the bark consists of liber or endophloeum, and is built up for 

 the most part of parenchymatous tissue accompanied by elongated 

 fibres of two kinds, partly united into true liber-bundles and partly 

 forming a kind of network, the smaller threads of which deviate consi- 

 derably from the straight line. Solution of iodine imparts an orange 

 hue to both kinds of bast-bundles, and well displays the structural 

 features of the bark. 



The woody column of the root exhibits three distinct forms of cell, 

 namely ligneous cells (libriform) with oblique ends ; parenchymatous, 

 almost cubic cells ; and large pitted vessels. In the Russian root, the 

 size of all the cells is much more considerable than in the Spanish. 



Chemical Composition — The root of liquorice contains, in addition 

 to sugar and albuminous matter, a peculiar sweet substance named 

 Glycyrrldzin, which is precipitated from a strong decoction upon addi- 

 tion of an acid or solution of cream of tartar, or neutral or basic 

 acetate of lead. When washed with dilute alcohol and dried, it is an 

 amorphous yellow powder, having a strong bitter-sweet taste and an 

 acid reaction. It forms with hot water a solution which gelatinizes on 

 cooling, does not reduce alkaline tartrate of copper, is not fermentable, 

 and does not rotate the plane of polarization. From the analysis and 

 experiments of Rosch, performed in the laboratory of Gorup-Besanez at 

 Erlangen, in 1876, the formula C'®H-*0^ was derived for glycyrrhizin. 

 By boiling it with dilute hydrochloric or sulphuric acid it is resolved 

 into a resinous amorphous bitter substance named Glycyrretin, and an 

 uncrystallizable sugar having the characters of glucose. The formula 

 of glycyrretin has not yet been settled. Weselsky and Benedikt, in 

 1876, showed that 65 per cent, of it may be obtained from glycyrrhizin. 



