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Liquorice | | Name : | Liquorice | | Botanical : | Glycyrrhiza glabra and Other Species | | Synonyms : | Chineselicorice
Gancao (Chinese name)
Kan-ts'ao
Kuo-lao
Licoriceroot
Ling-t'ung
Liquorice
Lu-ts'ao
Mei-ts'ao
Mi-kan
Mi-ts'ao
Sweetlicorice
Sweetwood
YastiMadhu (Sanskrit name)
| | Family : | Leguminosae | | Parts Used : | Root, dried | | Habitat : | Found wild in southern and central Europe and parts of Asia, andcultivated elsewhere. Grows abundantly in Northern China, Mongolia,especially from the region of Kokonor. | | Description : | The plants are graceful, with light, spreading, pinnate foliage, presenting an almost feathery appearance from a distance. The leaflets (like those of the False Acacia) hang down during the night on each side of the midrib, though they do not meet beneath it. From the axils of the leaves spring racemes or spikes of papilionaceous small pale-blue, violet, yellowish-white or purplish flowers, followed by small pods somewhat resembling a partly-grown peapod in form. In the type species glabra, the pods are smooth, hence the specific name; in others they are hairy or spiny.
The underground system, as in so many Leguminosae, is double, the one part consisting of a vertical or tap root, often with several branches penetrating to a depth of 3 or 4 feet, the other of horizontal rhizomes, or stolons, thrown off from the root below the surface of the ground, which attain a length of many feet. These runners are furnished with leafbuds and throw up stems in their second year. The perennial downward-running roots as well as the long horizontal stolons are equally preserved for use.
Various indications point to the habit of this plant of fixing atmospheric nitrogen, as do many others of the family.
In the species glandulifera (W. and K.) the pods are covered with thick, glandular spines, and the whole plant is pubescent or roughly glandular. The underground portion is not so spreading and produces a carrot-shaped root larger than the Spanish root derived from G. glabra. This species is indigenous to South-east Europe, Syria and Western Asia, and is both wild and cultivated in Russia. Both the Russian and Persian Liquorice of commerce is derived from G. glandulifera, the Russian reaching this country is peeled or unpeeled: its taste although sweet, is accompanied by a more or less perceptible bitterness. It consists chiefly of roots, not runners.
Persian Liquorice root, collected in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, from G. glandulifera, and exported in bales from Bussorah, is usually unpeeled, and is in rather large, coarse pieces, closely resembling the Russian root. Both the Russian and Persian varieties are largely consumed in the United States the root of G. glandulifera is equally official in the United States Pharmacopaeia with that of G. glabra.
G. echinata, a native of Hungary, south Russia and Asia Minor, is the official German species. It has short globular heads of flowers and a small, ovoid pod with long spines. Probably a portion of the root from Italy and Sicily is the product of G. echinata, which grows wild in Apulia. The root is also somewhat bitter and there are contradictory statements concerning its quality, due perhaps to its having been confused with G. glandulifera.
Asiatic Liquorice is obtained from G. uralensis (Fisch.), found in Turkestan, Mongolia and Siberia, and little inferior to the best Russian Liquorice.
G. lepidota (Pursh), American Liquorice, is a species of the north-western United States. The rhizome is said to resemble that of Spanish Liquorice, but is smaller.
It is only grown now to a very limited extent in this country, being cultivated on a small scale near Pontefract in Yorkshire, though formerly it was extensively grown at Mitcham in Surrey, also at Godalming, and at Worksop (Notts).
The English Extract of Liquorice, made from the fresh home-grown root, sold in the lozenge form and known as Pontefract or Pomfrey cakes, is said to have a more delicate flavour than that imported, and it is considered that the cultivation of English Liquorice might well be extended, Essex and Surrey being suitable districts for its growth.
In southern Italy, large quantities of Liquorice root are grown, but it is chiefly converted into Extract, though some of the root is exported.
Spain and the south of France furnish quantities of carefully dried Liquorice root. Up to the year 1890, the cultivation of Spanish Liquorice was small or moderate in comparison with the wild collection. Owing, however, to the depletion of the natural supplies of root of good quality, this cultivation has grown rapidly in South and South-central Europe, where the climate is favourable.
Liquorice grows best on sandy soil near streams, usually not being found in the wild condition more than 50 yards from water.
It will not flourish on clay and prefers the rich, fine soil of bottom lands in river valleys, where there is an abundance of moisture during the growing period, but where the ground bakes hard during the hot, late summer months, when the dry heat is very favourable for the formation of the sweet constituents.
The plant succeeds most in a warm climate; not only can it not endure severe freezing, but cool weather interferes with the formation of its useful juice and renders it woody. It has been found that a climate particularly favourable to the production of the orange is favourable to that of Liquorice.
Owing to the depth to which the root penetrates and its ready propagation from detached pieces, the plant is a most persistent weed in cultivated grounds where it is indigenous and exceedingly difficult of extirpation. It is very healthy and robust and very little subject to disease, at the same time successfully occupying the ground to the exclusion of other plants. For this reason, the continuation of the natural supply may be considered as assured, though it is liable to suffer severe reduction from over-collection.
The supply of natural root has suffered severe fluctuations owing to the exhaustion of supplies in the districts previously worked, alternating with over-production from newlyopened districts. This fact, coupled with the operations of speculators, has resulted in equally great fluctuations in quality, the new districts yielding full-grown root of good quality, the older ones that which has not been allowed to develop properly.
The cultivation of Liquorice is easy, sure and profitable and, if properly conducted, conducive to the betterment of the soil.
On account of the depth to which the root strikes when the plant has room to flourish, the soil should have a good staple of mould 2 or 3 feet in depth and be manured if necessary.
The planting season is either October, or February and March; the latter is preferred. The plants are procured from old plantations, being waste from the harvesting process, consisting of those side roots or runners which have eyes or buds, cut into sections about 6 inches long. They are dibbled in, in rows 3 or 4 feet apart, about 4 inches underneath the surface and about 18 inches apart in the rows. In the autumn, the ground is dressed with farmyard manure, about 40 tons to the acre.
During the first two years the growth is slight, the plants not rising above a foot the first season, and in Calabria the intervening space is generally utilized for the production of potatoes, cabbages and similar crops. The soil being heavily fertilized for the production of Liquorice, these crops are usually very luxuriant. After the second year, the growing Liquorice plants cover the entire soil to the exclusion of other growth. | | Constituents : | The chief constituent of Liquorice root, to which its sweet taste is due, is Glycyrrhizin (6 to 8 per cent), obtainable in the form of a sweet, white crystalline powder, consisting of the calcium and potassium salts of glycyrrhizic acid. The drug also contains sugar, starch (29 per cent), gum, protein, fat (0.8 per cent), resin, asparagin (2 to 4 per cent), a trace of tannin in the outer bark of the root, yellow colouring matter, and 0.03 of volatile oil.
The amount of Glycyrrhizin present in Extract of Liquorice varies from 5 to 24 per cent, and the amount of moisture from 8 to 17 per cent.Upon ignition, the extract yields from 5 to 9 per cent of ash.
The roots of G. glandulifera and echinata also contain in addition, Glycyrmarin, a bitter principle occurring mostly in the bark.
Glycyrrhizin, or a similar substance, has been obtained from other plants, viz. from the rhizome of Polypodium vulgare, the leaves of Myrrhis odorata, and the bark of Lucuma glycyphloea. | | Uses : | The action of Liquorice is demulcent, moderately pectoral and emollient.
It is a popular and well-known remedy for coughs, consumption and chest complaints generally, notably bronchitis, and is an ingredient in almost all popular cough medicines on account of its valuable soothing properties.
The Extract enters into the composition of cough lozenges and pastilles, with sedatives and expectorants. It is largely used in conjunction with infusion of linseed in the treatment of irritable cough, sore throat and laryngitis, and an infusion made by boiling 1 OZ. of the bruised root deprived of its bark, with 1 pint of water for a few minutes, may be employed in the treatment of sore throat and in catarrhal conditions of the urinary intestinal tracts.Beach mentions the following recipe as being used by the late Dr. Malone, of London, and speaks most highly of its efficacy: 'Take a large teaspoonful of Linseed, 1 ounce of Liquorice root, and 1/4 lb. of best raisins. Put them into 2 quarts of soft water and simmer down to 1 quart. Then add to it 1/4 lb. of brown sugar candy and a tablespoonful of white wine vinegar or lemon juice. Drink 1/2 pint when going to bed and take a little whenever the cough is troublesome.' (N.B. - It is best to add the vinegar to that quantity which is required for immediate use.)
Fluid Extract of Liquorice is employed almost exclusively as a vehicle for disguising the taste of nauseous medicines, having a remarkable power of converting the flavour of acrid or bitter drugs, such as Mezereon, Quinine or Cascara.
The powdered root is useful in pill-making on account of its absorbent qualities, being used to impart stiffness to pill masses and to prevent the adhesion of pills.
As a remedial agent, powdered Liquorice root has been almost entirely replaced by the extract, though it is used in the well-known Compound Liquorice Powder, the mild laxative in which Senna and Fennel are the other ingredients. It is added mainly on account of its sweetness and emollient qualities, the action of the powder being mainly due to the Senna contained.
Liquorice was prescribed by early physicians from the time of Hippocrates, in cases of dropsy, to prevent thirst, for which it is an excellent thing, though probably the only sweet substance that has this effect. It is thought, however, that the property does not actually belong to the saccharine juice, but that if a piece of the root be chewed till all the juice is extracted, there remains a bitter, which acts on the salivary glands, and this may contribute to remove thirst.
The sugar of Liquorice may safely be taken by diabetic patients.
On the whole, Liquorice as a domestic medicine is far more largely used on the Continent than in Great Britain. It is much used in China and largely produced (both L. glabra and L. echinata) in some of the northern provinces, a variety of medicinal preparations being employed, not only as possessing tonic, alterative and expectorant properties, but also for the rejuvenating and highly nutritive qualities attributed to it.
It was recommended by Gervase Markham, a noted authority on husbandry and farriery in the early part of the seventeenth century, for the treatment of certain horses' ailments. | | Dosage : | Decoction: use 1 tsp. rootstock with 1 cup water. Take 1 cupa day.
Licorice mixed with wild cherry, and flaxseed makes a wonderful coughsyrup.
For sore throat, phlegm, hoarseness, coughs, and bronchial irritations,the following Chinese formula should be sipped slowly:
Kan-ts'ao (licorice root) 1/2 oz. Chih-ma (flaxseed) 1 oz.
Boil in 1-1/2 pints of water for 10 minutes, strain. Dose: 1 cupof hot tea, 3 to 4 times a day. Sip slowly. | | Safety : | Do not use licorice root if you have high blood pressure, liver disease,or low levels of potassium. The increased production of aldosteronecan raise blood pressure; believed to cause retention of fluids; inlarge quantities, licorice can sap potassium and calcium from thebody, which is extremely dangerous. Not to be taken by people witha rapid heartbeat or those taking digoxin-based drugs. Avoid in casesof osteoporosis, hypertension, and swelling around the heart. Licoriceis contraindicated in cases where there is a tendency towards fluidretention, edema with high blood pressure. It should be used moderatelyfor women, who tend to retain water more than men. Application shouldnot continue for more than 4-6 weeks.
Women with premenstrual syndrome (PMS) should not use licorice duringPMS, due to its ability to cause water retention or bloating.
Licorice-flavored candy does not offer the same benefits as preparationsfrom the root, but can cause an increase in blood pressure. | | Myths : | Licorice was used as a treatment for coughs as long ago as the thirdcentury BC. When the 3,000 year old tomb of King Tutankhamen of Egyptwas opened, archeologists found quantities of licorice stored withfabulous jewelry and magnificent art works. Did the boy king havea special liking for licorice?
Like the Chinese, the Hindus considered licorice a general tonic,beautifying agent, and elixir of life.
Ancient Chinese divided their drugs into 3 classes, according totheir reputed properties. Licorice was of the first class because'They preserve the life of man, and therefore resemble Heaven. Theyare not poisonous. No matter how much you take, and how often youuse them, they are not harmful. If you wish to make the body supple,improve the breath, become old in years without aging in body, thenmake use of drugs of this class.'
It has been stated that 'Licorice sugar will not crystallize norferment, even when yeast is added.'
Hippocrates mentioned licorice in 400 BC; Pliny wrote 1900 yearsago about the juice of licorice helping to clear the voice. It ismentioned in practically all botanical records of mankind.
In World War I, the French provided their troops with a beveragemade with licorice root.
The Chinese claim to have used the herb root for more than 5,000years. Chinese healers prescribed licorice for flare-ups of arthritis,but back then they didn't know that licorice contained saponins, anti-inflammatorycompounds similar to natural steroid hormones. Licorice stimulatesthe production of 2 steroids, cortisone and aldosterone.
A list of 365 medicinal herbs were compiled in China about 2,000years ago, called the Shennong Herbal. Licorice was listed as a 'superior'drug, meaning it can be used over a long period of time without toxiceffects. It actually has antiviral, antiallergic and, as stated, anti-inflammatoryproperties.
Licorice root, considered of great importance in Chinese medicine,is sold in long, dry, wrinkled pieces. It is used in a large numberof prescriptions as a corrective and harmonizing ingredient. The extractis used in the composition of cough lozenges, syrups, and pastilles.
In the United States, the National Cancer Institute is investigatingtriterpenoids, compounds found in licorice root, for the capabilityto inhibit the growth of cancerous cells and prevent tooth decay.
The Japanese are investigating glycyrrhetic acid as a possible cancertreatment.
Licorice Root (Glycyrrhiza lepidota) was known to the Blackfeet tribeas 'Pa ki to ki' and was a remedy for sore throat and stomach trouble.They steeped the gray leaves.
Licorice is used in great quantities in modern tobacco mixtures. | | Nutrient : | Manganese, phosphorus, protein, sugar, vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9,and E. | | Sold : | Powder
Capsules: take 1 capsule to up to 3 times daily. |
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