236 



MEDICAL BOTANY. 



Glycyrrhiza. — Linn. 



Calyx tubular, naked, bilabiate ; upper lip 3-cleft, lower entire. Carina 2-parted. Le- 

 gume ovate, compressed. 



This genus consists of perennial, herbaceous plants, generally with roots 

 having a sweet taste. The flowers in axillary racemes, and of a blue, violet, 

 or white colour. They are natives of the south of Europe, Tartary, the 

 countries bordering on the Levant, and North America. 



G. glabra, Linn. — Legumes smooth. Flowers spiked, distant. Leaflets ovate, some- 

 what retuse, viscid beneath. 



Linn., Sp. PL 1046 ; Woodville, ii. 169 ; Stephenson and Churchill, iii. 

 134; Lindley, Fl. Med. 243. 



Common Names. — Liquorice ; Common liquorice. 



Foreign Names. — Reglisse, Fr.; Liquirizia, It.; Lackrizen, Ger, 



Description. — Root per- 

 ennial, long, giving rise to 

 Fi &- 121 - several erect stems of a pale- 



green colour, and striated, 

 with a few branches. The 

 leaves are alternate, pin- 

 nated, and composed of 

 five or six pairs of leaflets, 

 with a terminal one on some • 

 what long petioles; the 

 leaflets are ovate, some- 

 what retuse, petiolate, of 

 a yellowish-green colour, 

 and viscid on the under 

 surface. The flowers are 

 in pedunculated spikes, 

 shorter than the leaves. 

 They are small, and of a 

 bluish or purplish colour. 

 The calyx is persistent, tu- 

 bular, bilabiate, and five- 

 toothed. The corolla con- 

 sists of an ovate, lanceo- 

 late, obtuse, erect vexillum, 

 two oblong alse, and a two- 

 parted, straight carina. 

 The stamens are diadel- 

 phous ; the anthers simple 

 and rounded. The ovary 

 is short, with a subulate 

 style and blunt stigma. 

 The legumes are oblong, 

 smooth, compressed, point- 

 G. glabra. e ^ ant j ne-celled, contain- 



ing two or three small, re- 

 niform scales. 



The Liquorice is a native of the south of Europe and Asia, but is 

 capable of cultivation in much colder climates. It was well known to the 

 ancients, and is noticed by Dioscorides and Hippocrates, and appears to 

 have been in very general use in the time of Pliny, as he says of it " proe- 

 stantissima in Cilicia, secunda Ponto, radice dulci, et hac tantum in usu." 

 There is, however, some difference of opinion as to the exact species known 

 to the Greeks, whether it was the one under consideration or not. Dr. Sib- 

 thorp inclines to think it was the G. echinata } and Dierbach, the G. glandu- 



