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Glycyrrhiza glabra
Also called Cultivated licorice, Licorice, Licorice Root, Drop, Liquorice Root, Sweetwood
Liquorice is a herbaceous perennial legume grown mainly for its sweet, aromatic root, which is the source of liquorice flavouring. It needs full sun and well-drained soil, and roots are harvested two to three years after planting.
Liquorice (Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences; IPA: LIK-ər-ish, -iss) is the common name of Glycyrrhiza glabra, a flowering plant of the bean family Fabaceae, from the root of which a sweet, aromatic flavouring is extracted.
The liquorice plant is an herbaceous perennial legume native to West Asia, Tropical Asia, North Africa, and Southern Europe. Liquorice is used as a flavouring in confectionery, tobacco, beverages, and pharmaceuticals, and is marketed as a dietary supplement.
Liquorice grows best in well-drained soils in deep valleys with full sun. It is harvested in the autumn two to three years after planting. Countries producing liquorice include Turkey, Greece, Iran, and Iraq.
Liquorice root contains triterpenoids, polyphenols, and polysaccharides. Flavonoids account for the yellow root colour. The principal glycoside, glycyrrhizin, exists in content of 7% to 10%, depending on cultivation practices. The isoflavene glabrene and the isoflavane glabridin, found in the roots of liquorice, are phytoestrogens.
The scent of liquorice root comes from a complex and variable combination of compounds, of which anethole is some 3% of total volatiles. Much of the sweetness in liquorice comes from glycyrrhizin, which has 30–50 times the sweetness of sugar. The sweetness is different from sugar, being less instant, tart, and lasting longer.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Liquorice by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
