LICORICE
Glycyrrhiza glabra
COMMON NAME: Sweetwood.
FEATURES: A perennial species introduced into various countries from southern Europe and western Asia.
It grows 3–5 feet tall, bears imparipinnate dark green leaves in pairs of 4–7, ovate and smooth. The
yellowish white, pale blue, or purplish spike-shaped flowers are followed by 1–6-seeded, 1-inch-long,
brown, flat ova fruit pods. Root grayish brown or dark brown, wrinkled lengthwise, internally yellow,
and four times sweeter than cane sugar. The roots are dug when sweetest, in autumn of the fourth year,
preferably of plants that have not borne fruit, which exhausts the sweetness of the sap.
MEDICINAL PART: Dried root.
SOLVENT: Water, sparingly in alcohol.
BODILY INFLUENCE: Demulcent, expectorant, laxative, pectoral.
USES: Licorice is the well-known root extract for coughs and chest complaints. It is best combined with
some, or all, of the following: black cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa), wild cherry (Prunus serotina),
flaxseed (Linum), ginger root (Zingiber), and lemon and made into an infusion for wheezing or shortness
of breath, pains of the breasts and lungs, dry cough or hoarseness. Can be used alone, however, as the root
of this plant is greatly esteemed. Some of the latest research from Green Medicine Research Laboratories
in Long Island has found active materials in licorice root to have a molecular structure similar to that of
hormones from the adrenal cortex (a most important component of the endocrine glandular system),
besides being useful in treating chronic skin conditions. From M. B. Kreig’s Green Medicine:
“Derivatives from Licorice were given to patients with gastric ulcers, with the result that the ulcers
disappeared in 37 per cent of the cases, and were greatly reduced in the remainder according to the
researchers.” The reason being, licorice is a beneficial laxative and demulcent, thus removing gastric-
ulcer causing material from the intestinal tract and relieving the conditions of the unwanted ulcers.
Used since ancient times, it was considered a mild demulcent of little value except as a flavoring agent
until more recent research found the root to be valuable as a source of estrogenic hormones. Culpeper
used licorice for dropsy and to allay thirst, besides the already mentioned ailments. Too much licorice is