Glycyrrhiza
Habit | herbaceous |
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Fabaceae > |
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Glycyrrhiza is a genus of about 18 accepted species in the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae), with a subcosmopolitan distribution in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.
The genus is best known for liquorice (British English; licorice in American English), G. glabra, a species native to the Mediterranean region, from which the confectionary called Liquorice is produced. Very little G. glabra is grown in North America, but American Licorice G. lepidota is a common native species there. Russian Liquorice (G. echinata) and Chinese Liquorice (G. uralensis) are also cultivated, the latter being important in traditional Chinese medicine.
Read about Glycyrrhiza in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture
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Glycyrrhiza (Greek, sweet root). Leguminosae. Licorice, also spelled Liquorice, and Lickorice. This Genus contains the plant whose roots produce the corice of commerce. The genus has about a dozen widely scattered species of perennial herbs, often glandular: lvs. odd-pinnate; lfts. of indefinite number, rarely 3, entire, with minute glands or teeth: fls. blue, violet, white or yellowish, in axillary racemes or spikes, which are peduncled or sessile.—About a dozen species in the Medit. region, Trop. Asia, W. Amer. and S. Amer., only one of which appears to be cult. The roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra, of southern Europe and central Asia, are used extensively by druggists: in America by brewers and manufacturers of plug tobacco; in Turkey, Egypt and France to make cool- jng drinks. Our supply—more than $1,500,000 worth in 1899—is derived mainly from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Turkey and Russia (Transcaucasia), the roots from Spain and Italy being considered best, and those from Turkey poorest on account of their bitterness. The soil for licorice must be deep, mellow, moist, rich and free from stones. Plants are usually set in rows, 3 feet or more apart, and not less than 1 foot asunder. After the plants have covered the ground, they are allowed to shift for themselves for three or four years. Harvesting is primitive, the roots being exposed by the plow and pulled by hand. Large quantities of roots are thus left to produce a succeeding crop or to overrun the field as weeds. One ton to the acre is considered a fair yield; 1.6 cents a pound an average price. In America the only fields worthy the name arc in California, where licorice is not considered very paying. Experiment and experience with it are, however, but little more than begun. CH
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Species
Species include[1]:
- Glycyrrhiza acanthocarpa
- Glycyrrhiza aspera
- Glycyrrhiza astragalina
- Glycyrrhiza bucharica
- Glycyrrhiza echinata - Russian liquorice
- Glycyrrhiza eglandulosa
- Glycyrrhiza foetida
- Glycyrrhiza foetidissima
- Glycyrrhiza glabra - liquorice, licorice
- Glycyrrhiza gontscharovii
- Glycyrrhiza iconica
- Glycyrrhiza korshinskyi
- Glycyrrhiza lepidota - American licorice
- Glycyrrhiza pallidiflora
- Glycyrrhiza squamulosa
- Glycyrrhiza triphylla
- Glycyrrhiza uralensis - Chinese liquorice
- Glycyrrhiza yunnanensis
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Glycyrrhiza. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Glycyrrhiza QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)