Glycyrrhiza glabra L.
Fam. Fabaceae ( Leguminose Papilionaceae)
Fran: Réglisse
Ingl: Licorice
Spag: Regaliz
Ted: Süßholz
Nomidialettali: regulation, glicirriza, argolizia, niculizia, rebulizia, gurigulizia, glisirizza, arregalizia, ragadinzia, rigorizza, migulezzia, niclizia.
Description
Licorice is a suffrutical plant with erect, cylindrical, glabrous, striped, branched, 100-150 cm tall stems.
Learnled-compound glabrous leaves composed of 4-7 pairs of elliptical leaflets.
Hypogeum portion of the highly developed plant consisting of rhizomes which, in the second year of life give rise to new shoots and sarmentose roots.
The small flowers, blue-violet in color, gathered in pedunculated axillary racemes. They have a glass covered with glandular hair, formed by 5 sepals welded to the base. The flowering of licorice occurs in the summer (June-July).
The fruit is a legume, 2-3 cm long, containing 2-5 seeds, reniform or lenticular, brown in color.
The rhizomes have a slightly accentuated aroma, while the taste is first sweet and then gradually bitter.
Within the species there are 3 varieties:
1. G.glabra var. typica Reg. et Herd., with hairless legumes, also called licorice of Spain, which is spontaneous in the Mediterranean area and provides the best quality product since it has the highest glycyrrhizin content; both the rhizomes and the roots have brown bark and the innermost parts are pale yellow;
2. G.glabra var. glandulifera Waldst. et Kit., characterized by presenting the lower portions of the leaves and legumes covered by thin viscid bristles and not having runners; it is called liquorice of Russia and is widespread in Eastern Europe;
3. G.glabra var. violace Boiss., characterized by roots of large diameter (7-8cm) and flowers of an intense violet color, is also called Turkish or Persian licorice and is widespread in the Middle Eastern area.
Other species such as G. uralensis Fish are also present. or Chinese licorice that has a low sugar content, or like G. echinata L. or Hungarian licorice with small, spiked pods.
Areal
Licorice is native to the Mediterranean and Middle East, the first evidence of its medicinal use comes from ancient Egypt. The typical species grows wild in Italy in Calabria and in Sicily and Spain. It prefers salty soils and those subjected to periodic submersion or with high groundwater, but in any case warm and deep. Salinity, however, causes the production of thinner roots and rhizomes, although they are richer in sugar than those of unsalted soils.
Culture
Licorice is grown in Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The implantation of liquorice culture is rarely performed starting from the seed since it hardly allows to obtain uniform plants and high yields and also delays the harvest time of 1-2 years. If sowing is desired, the seed, placed at a depth not exceeding 2 cm, must be placed in rows spaced around 50 cm. The most common implantation technique consists in taking 10-15 cm long and 1-1.5 cm long rhizomes from at least 3 knots in autumn from a cultivation of liquorice already in place. These, immediately after the harvest, are planted horizontally on the bottom of 20-30 cm deep furrows, arranged in rows spaced 70-90 cm. After the plant, irrigation is often necessary. The licorice plant takes advantage of phosphate fertilization while it seems to be negatively affected by the soil's nitrogen richness. In particular it has been seen that nitrogen determines the production of rhizomes and roots poor in active principles.
ADVERSITY: Licorice can be damaged by fungi: Uromyces glycyrrhizae, a rust that attacks leaves and stems; Cercospora cavarea, which attacks the leaves; Sclerotium sp., Which develops on the rhizomes. Damages of a certain magnitude can instead be made to the roots stored in the warehouse by some beetle insects such as Bostrychus capucinus, Ptinus fur, Silvanus surinamensis, Stegobium paniceum .
As for the fight against weeds, it is especially useful in the first year of life; subsequently the crop covers the soil well and is able to compete effectively with weeds.
COLLECTION AND YIELD: in the autumn of the third year, when the leaves begin to dry and after having mowed and removed the aerial part of the plant from the field, the roots and rhizomes are harvested with the help of hard-edged grubbers close together that bring the underground parts of the plant to the surface. As a rule it is not possible to remove all the rhizomes present in the soil, therefore the proportion of these remaining in the soil is almost always able to make the crop persist on the same plot. After harvesting, the rhizomes and roots (which have a humidity of about 50%) are reduced to 20-30 cm fragments, dried up to 10% humidity, assembled in bales of 20-40 kg and sent for subsequent processing . A good licorice crop can produce up to 20 t / ha of rhizomes and wet roots.
The seed yield is about 0.4-0.5t / ha.
uses
In herbal medicine and phytotherapy, licorice is used for the beneficial action on the stomach ulcer, even if it has been shown to be hypertensive at high doses; in fact the most interesting active ingredient, the glyciteine, which is a strong sweetener (50 -100 times higher than sucrose), favors the retention of sodium and water in animal cells, consequently reducing the body's need for water. Licorice also has calming and expectorant, purifying, digestive, refreshing, tonic properties. Licorice has expectorant properties (secretolytic and secretomotor action); it is often used in herbal teas as a corrective of flavor. Licorice may enhance the loss of potassium salts determined by other drugs, such as thiazides; for this reason it is advisable not to exceed the indicated doses and not to exceed a month of treatment.
In dietetics, for the pleasant taste, it is used in liqueur, in pastry, for the darkening of beer. Another constituent is glycestrone which has estrogenic activity.
Other uses : the residue of roots and rhizomes after the extraction of active ingredients, treated with caustic soda, serves to extract a stabilizer of fire-fighting foam. The further residue is used in the preparation of pastes suitable for the construction of insulating panels.
