316 



SUBTERRANEAN ORGANS 



copceia permits the collection from any species of Glycyrrhiza, but the 

 product must comply with the official description. 



Glycyrrhiza glabra, Linne (N.O. Leguminosce) , is widely distributed 

 over southern Europe, extending to Central Asia ; it is cultivated 

 to a limited extent in England (Yorkshire), but our supplies are 

 derived chiefly from Sicily and Spain. 



The plant produces a tall, erect, herbaceous stem, and a stout 

 perennial root, dividing, a few inches below the surface, into several 

 long, straight, descending branches. Near the surface it also throws 

 out long horizontal runners provided with scaly cataphyllary leaves 

 with buds in their axils. In England the plant is dug up in the late 



autumn, and either sold in the fresh 

 state or cut transversely and dried. 

 The drug consists therefore of both 

 runners and roots, the former consti- 

 tuting the major part. 



Spain (Murcia, Aragon and Toledo, 

 valleys of the Ebro, Guadalquivir, &c.), 

 Sicily and the south of France furnish 

 considerable quantities of carefully 

 dried liquorice root. In southern Italy 

 large quantities of liquorice root are 

 grown, but it is chiefly converted into 

 extract. 



FIG. 160. Spanish Liquorice 



root. Transverse section of 



rhizome (runner). a, bark ; 



b, wood ; c, pith. Magnified 

 3 diam. (Berg.) 



Description. Spanish liquorice is ex- 

 ported in large bales or in bundles of 

 long, straight, cylindrical pieces from 

 1 to 2 cm. thick. These have a rather 

 dark reddish brown colour, and are 



usually longitudinally wrinkled. On the surface they also bear small 

 scars of roots, and, on the majority of pieces (the runners), here and 

 there minute dark buds may be seen. 



The drug breaks with a fracture that is fibrous in the bark, splintery 

 in the wood ; the section exhibits a yellow wood surrounded by a 

 moderately thick yellowish grey bark, the pieces of runner being 

 distinguished by the presence of a small pith. Under the lens the 

 wood is seen to consist of very numerous medullary rays, between 

 which are very narrow, porous wedges of vascular tissue ; opposite 

 to these in the bark are radial rows of dark points (groups of bast 

 fibres). 



Peeled root (including runner), which alone is official, has a pale 

 yellow, slightly fibrous exterior and exhibits no trace of the small 

 buds ; otherwise it resembles the unpeeled. 



The drug has a characteristic but not powerful odour, and a very 

 sweet taste without perceptible bitterness or acridity. 





