GLYCYRRHIZA 
GLABRA. THE LIQUORICE. 
Class XVII. DIADELPHIA.— Order IV. DECANDRIA. 
Natural Order, LEGUMINOS^. THE PEA TRIBE. 
Pig. («) represents a flower magnified; (6) the vexillum; (c) alse; (<i) carina; («) the nine united stamens; (/) germen and style; 
( g ) the legume; ( h ) a seed. 
The common Liquorice is a native of the south of Europe ; but has been cultivated in our gardens ever since 
the time of Turner in 1562. Stowe informs us that “the planting and growing of licorish began about the 
first year of Queen Elizabeth.” It was formerly cultivated to a considerable extent at Pontefract, in York- 
shire, Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, and Godaiming, in Surry ; but the greater part of what is now used in 
England, is grown at Mitcham, Battersea, Fulham, and other places near London. It flourishes most in a 
light sandy soil, producing its flowers in August. 
The root is perennial, running very deep into the ground, and creeping to a considerable distance. 
When full grown it is as thick as the thumb, round, slender, flexible, and furnished with a few scattered 
fibres; of a brownish colour externally, yellowish, succulent, and fibrous within. From the root proceed 
three or four erect, herbaceous stems, of a pale green colour, and striated ; with few branches, to the height 
of four feet and upwards The leaves are alternate, pinnated, and composed of five or six pairs of leaflets, 
with a terminal one standing on a longish footstalk ; the leaflets are ovate, blunt, veined, petiolated, nearly 
two inches long, and of a yellowish green colour, and clammy on the under-side. The flowers are small, 
bluish or purplish, and papilionaceous, standing on naked pedicels, in long axillary spikes. The calyx is 
persistent, tubular, cut obliquely into two lips, and divided into narrow pointed segments. The corolla con- 
sists of an ovate, lanceolate, obtuse, erect, concave vexillum ; two oblong, obtuse ala:, and a similarly shaped 
but shorter carina. The filaments are ten, nine of which are united at the base, and all of them furnished 
with simple roundish anthers ; the germen is short, with a tapering style and blunt stigma. The legumes 
are oblong, smooth, compressed, pointed, and 1-celled, containing two or three small kidney-shaped seeds. 
From Dr. Fleming’s Catalogue of Indian plants, it .appears that liquorice grows in the Bengal provinces; 
and Dr. Ainslie asserts it to be a product of the Malabar coast, where it is called irattimadhiram. The 
greater part, however, of what is sold in Lower India, is imported from Persia, where it grows in great 
abundance in the date groves near Bussora, and on the banks of the Sewund river. The roots of the wild 
Jamaica liquorice (Abrus precatorius, Lin.) a beautiful climbing shrub, resemble so much the true liquorice 
root in appearance and qualities, that they are often sold in India for it, and used as a substitute. 
Culture. — The liquorice is propagated by cuttings of the small roots divided into sections, five or six 
inches long, each having one or more good buds. The proper season for procuring the sets for planting, is 
in open weather, about the middle of March. A light sandy soil is the best adapted for this kind of crop, 
as its goodness consists in the length of the roots. The ground should be trenched three spades deep; then 
having traced out rows a yard asunder, plant the sets along each row, at intervals of eighteen inches, covering 
them entirely with mould. The London gardeners usually sow a crop of onions or lettuce on the same 
ground the first year, between the rows. During spring and summer, all weeds must be kept down by the 
hoe, care being taken not to cut off the top shoots of the liquorice plants, as it would greatly injure them. 
In the autumn, when the stems of the liquorice are in a decaying state, they should be cut down, and a very 
little rotten dung spread upon the surface. In the following spring, about March, the ground should be 
slightly dug between the rows of liquorice, burying the remaining part of the dung, being very careful not 
to cut the roots. During the summer they must be kept quite clean by occasional hoeing. The same 
