Licorice bush

Glycyrrhiza glabra is a perennial belonging to the butterfly family that can grow up to 2 m high.

The yellow, woody to finger-thick roots sprout runners several metres long. The unpeeled, dried roots and their stolons(Liquiritiae radix - liquorice root) are used for various medicinal preparations to produce "liquorice juice" (Liquiritiae succus). This is incorporated into the worldwide popular liquorice confectionery. The pale violet flowers are in many-flowered racemes in the leaf axils. The brownish seeds develop in glabrous pods. Origin: Mediterranean area, western Asia; cultivated as a crop in European countries.

Extracts of licorice root contain: 2-15% glycyrrhetin(acid), and a number of flavonoids, phytosterols and coumarins. They are used medicinally as expectorants.