Glycyrrhiza
(the old Greek name used by Dioscorides, from glykys, sweet, and rhiza, a root; in reference to the sweetness of the root). Liquorice. Including Liquiritia. ORD. Leguminosoe. A genus comprising about twelve species of hardy herbaceous perennials. Flowers blue, violet, white, or yellow, in axillary racemes. Leaves pinnate. Root long, perpendicular, sweet. These rather coarse-growing plants succeed in a deep sandy loam. Propagated by divisions, each of which should have one or more buds. The species most cultivated is G. glabra, from which is obtained the true liquorice. G. echinata (prickly). fl. purple, in racemes not half so long as the leaves. June and July. l., leaflets oval-lanceolate, mucronate, glabrous; stipules oblong-lanceolate. h. 3ft. Europe, 1596. Whole plant glutinous to the touch. (B. M. 2154.) G. glabra (glabrous).* fl. pale blue, distant; spikes or racemes pedunculate, shorter than the leaves. Summer and autumn. l., leaflets ovate, rather retuse, and somewhat clammy beneath, as well as the branches. Stem only terete at the apex. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Europe, &c., 1562.
G. lepidota (scaly). fl. whitish; spikes pedunculate, shorter than the leaves, dense. July and August. Pods beset with hooked prickles. l., leaflets 15in. to 19in. long, oblong-lanceolate, acute, squamulose, under surface covered with glandular dots. Root creeping. h. 2ft. to 3ft. North America, 1817. (B. M. 2150.)