Liquorice roots come from the Glycyrrhiza glabra plant and are commonly used in foods, beverages, and medicines. They contain glycyrrhizin, a sweet compound, and glycyrrhetic acid, which has anti-inflammatory properties. Liquorice roots are cultivated in Spain, Sicily, England, and other places. They are used to flavor tobacco, beers, and candies due to their sweet taste. Medicinally, liquorice root is used to treat ulcers, allergies, arthritis, and other conditions due to its demulcent and anti-inflammatory properties.

1. Liquorice Roots

2. Liquorice
• Synonyms:
I. Glycyrrhiza
II. Liquorice root
III. Glycyrrhizae radix
IV. Mulhatti ( hindi), Mulhethi
V. Jethi Madh
VI. Yashtimadhu
• Biological Sources : Liquorice is the dried, peeled or unpeeled,
roots, rhizome or stolon of Glycyrrhiza glabra Linn.,
family Leguminosae.
• It is known in commerce as
• Spanish liquorice: of Glycyrrhiza glabra typica
• Russian liquorice : Glycyrrhiza glabra Glandulifera
• Persian: Glycyrrhiza glabra beta violacea
• it is a sweet and yellow wood.

3. Liquorice
• The word Glycyrrhiza has
been derived from the
Greek origin that
means sweet root.
• glabra means smooth and
usually refers to the
smooth, pod-like fruit.
• It is official in European
Pharmacopoeia.
• It contain not less than 4 %
glycyrrhizic acid.

4. Geographical Sources
• Liquorice is grown in the sub-Himalayan tracts
and Baluchistan.
• It is cultivated on a large scale in Spain, Sicily
and Yorkshire (England).
• Spain is largest producer.
• Imported in India.
• G. glabra var violaceae is found in Iran
• whereas G. glabra var glandulifera exclusively
grows in Russia (the ‘Russian Liquorice’).
• Russia and Persia collected from wildly grown
sources.

5. Liquorice varieties
• The following are the three commonly grown
varieties of Glycyrrhiza glabra, namely:
• (a) G. glabra var. violaceae (or Persian Liquorice):
This specific species bears violet flowers,
• (b) G. glabra var gladulifera (or Russian
Liquorice): It has a distinct big stock together with
a number of elongated roots, but it has not got
any stolon, and
• (c) G. glabra var. typica (or Spanish Liquorice):
This specific plant bears only purplish-blue
coloured papilionaceous flowers. It possesses a
large number of stolons.

6. Cultivation & Preparation
• 1] seed propagation
• 2] vegetative propagation.
• The roots are usually harvested after 3 to 4 years from its plantation
when they mostly display enough growth.
• The rhizomes and roots are normally harvested in the month of
October, particularly from all such plants that have not yet borne
the fruits. thereby ascertaining maximum sweetness of the sap.
• The rootlets and buds are removed manually and the drug is
washed with running water.
• The drug is first dried under the sun and subsequently under the
shade till it loses almost 50% of its initial weight.
• The large thick roots of the Russian Liquorice are usually peeled
before drying.
• It is an usual practice in Turkey, Spain and Israel to extract a
substantial quantity of the drug with water, the resulting liquid is
filtered and evaporated under vaccums and the concentrated
extract is moulded either into sticks or other suitable forms.

7. Macroscopy/ Description
• Colour : Unpeeled Liquorice-
Externally, yellowish brown or
dark brown;
and internally: yellowish colour
• Odour : Faint and characteristic
• Taste : Sweet
• Size : Length = 20 to 50 cm;
Diameter = 2 cm
• Shape : Unpeeled drug—
Straight and nearly cylindrical
• Peeled drug—Mostly angular
• Fracture :
• Fibrous in bark; and splintery
in the wood.

8. Microscopical characters:
• 1. Periderm: Phellem (cork):
• Several layers with tabular cells, outer layers
are filled with reddish brown contents and
inner few are colourless.
• Phellogen: Indistinct Phelloderm: 3-5 layered,
immediately below cork, parenchymatous
cells whose corners thickened with cellulose
(collenchymatous); some cells contain prism
of calcium oxalate and minute starch grain.

9. • 2. Secondary phloem:
• Wide zone with numerous concentrically arranged
bundles of phloem fibres each bundle is surrounded
by a parenchymatous sheath whose cells contain
prisms of calcium oxalate. Radially the fibre bundles
alternated with soft phloem elements and tangentially
with medullary rays.
• 3. Medullary rays:
• Distinct, bi-to multiseriate, parenchymatous, in
continuation with those of xylem however, the rays
are narrower in the xylem region and become wider in
the phloem region.

10. • 4. Secondary xylem:
• Well represented, divided (like phloem) by large
medullary rays at regular interval.
• Xylem consists of vessel, fibres and lignified wood
parenchyma.
• the vessels which are relatively wide show
scalariform and bordered pitted thickenings.
• Wood fibres are also unsheathed by a layer of
parenchyma containing crystals.
• Starch is present in the wood parenchyma.
• 5. Pith:
• Consist of large parenchyma with intercellular spaces
and contain few starch grains. Pith absent in root.

12. Powder analysis of liquorices:
• Fibres: They are yellow coloured fibres in bundles of
about 10- 15; the tips of the bundles appear fringed like
that of an electric cable.
• Calcium oxalate: Parenchymatous sheath of small
parenchymatous cell (crystal sheath), each containing a
single prism of calcium oxalate, encircle the above
fibres; scattered prism are also seen (mostly twin
prisms).
• Wood elements: vessels large, with numerous bordered
pits.
• Starch granules: Both simple (oval to elongated) and
compound (not many), minute.

14. • Chemical Constituents :
• Glycyrrhiza (liquorice) comprises of a
triterpenoidal saponin having beta amyrine
structure.
The glycoside known as glycyrrhizin (or glycyrrhizic
acid).
It gives frothing in alkaline solution

16. • Glycyrrhizin is Ca and K salt of glycyrrhizinic acid, found to be 50 times as
sweet as sugar.
• Glycyrrhizin is glycoside, upon hydrolysis loses its sweet taste and gives
rise to the aglycone glycyrrhetinic acid (glycyrrhitic acid) together with
two moles of glucuronic acid.
• The former is a pentacyclic triterpene derivative of the beta amyrin type.
other chemical constituents essentially include are namely:
• Coumarin derivatives e.g., umbelliferone and herniarin;
• flavonoid glycoside e.g., liquiritoside;
• isoliquiritoside,
• liquiritin;
• isoliquiritin,
• rhanoliquiritin, and rhamnoisoliquiritin;
• asparagine; 22-33-dihyrostigmasterol; glucose; mannitol and about 20%
of starch.
• Interestingly, carbenoxolone, which is an oleandane derivative is
prepared from glycyrrhiza and possesses considerable mineralocorticoid
activity. It is used as an anti-ulcer drug.

17. Chemical Constituents

18. Adulterants
• Glycyrrhiza uralensis
• Glycyrrhiza hirsutu
• Glycyrrhiza echinata
• Glycyrrhiza
macedonia
• Glycyrrhiza
pallidiflora

19. Substitutes and Adulterants:
• Manchurian Licorice is obtained from
Glycyrrhiza uralensis.
• Colour is chocolate brown and cork
exfoliating. Anatomically also it shows
peculiarities based on which one can
distinguish.
• The medullary rays are curved or wavey and
presence of lacunae can be seen in wood.
• Being a substitute it does contain glycyrrhizin
the active principle but very little of free
sugars.

20. Adulterant
• The common is wild licorice also called Indian
licorice, derived from the root of Abrus
precatorius (Leguminosae).
• The root is very toxic due to an alkaloid abrine
and therefore should not be used in place of
licorice.
• The root possesses a peculiar disagreeable
Odour and bitter acrid flavour leaving faintly
sweet after taste.
• Microscopically the adulterants are
characterized by stone cells.

21. Uses
• Glycyrrhiza has demulscent and expectorant
properties.
• It is used as a masking agent for bitter drugs in
pharmaceutical formulations, such as: quinine, aloe,
ammonium chloride etc.
• Ammoniated glycyrrhiza is employed as a flavouring
agent in beverages, pharmaceuticals and confectionary.
• The inherent surfactant activity due to the presence of
saponins helps to facilitate the absorption of poorly
absorbed drugs, for instance: Anthraquinone
glycosides.
• It is invariably added to beer to form stable and
enhanced foaminess.
•

22. • It imparts a distinct and characteristic bitter
taste to a number of beverages.
• The presence of glycyrrhetinic acid exert
mineralocorticoid activity and hence it is used
in the treatment of inflamations, rhematoid
arthritis and Addison’s disease.
• Liquorice is an important ingredient
in ‘Liquorice compound powder’ wherein it
enhance the action of senna.

23. • Liquorice liquid extract is used in the
treatment of peptic ulcer.
• In Europe the glycyrrhetic acid is employed
exclusively in dermatological formulations for
its remarkable antiinflammatory properties.
• Caution:
• As glycyrrhizin appreciably enhances sodium
and fluid retention and promotes potassium
depletion. Therefore, patients with history of
either cardiac problems or hypertension must
avoid consumption of significant amount of
liquorice.

24. • People use licorice to treat
stomach ulcers and
mouth ulcers.
• It is also used to treat Addison’s
disease, allergies, arthritis,
rheumatism.
• and as an anticarcinogenic,
antiinflammatory, antinauseant,
and anticonvulsant.
• In the United States licorice is
most often used to flavor tobacco
products.