Relatives

Glycyrrhiza glabra L. - Liquorice, Licorice.

Taxonomic position.

Family Fabaceae Lindl., genus Glycyrrhiza L.

Synonyms.

Glycyrrhiza glandulifera Waldst. et Kit., G. glabra L. subsp. glandulifera (Waldst. & Kit.) Ponert, G. glabra L. var. glandulifera (Waldst. & Kit.) Regel & Herder, G. glabra L. var. typica L., G. glabra L. var. violacea (Boiss. & Noe) Boiss., G. hirsuta Pall., G. pallida Boiss. & Noel, G. violacea Boiss. & Noel

Morphology and biology.

Perennial plant. Stems 40-70 cm tall, erect, simple or more or less branched, shortly pubescent, like the whole plant, covered with small brownish glandules, sometimes with small admixture of glandular spinules. Leaflets 3-7 pairs, elliptic or oblong-ovate, rarely lanceolate, 2-3.5 cm long, 1-2.5 cm wide. Flowers 8-11 mm long, numerous, in lax racemes 4-8 cm long. Calyx 5-6 mm long, its teeth lanceolate, shorter than tube. Corolla whitish-violet. Standard oblong-ovate. Ovary with 6-7 ovules. Pods 2-3.5 cm long, linear-oblong, laterally compressed, straight or slightly falcately bent, slightly convex above seeds, studded with short glandular spinules. Cross-pollinated entomophilous plant. Flowers and fruits in June - August. 2n=16.

Distribution.

Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia, West Siberia.

Ecology.

In steppes on sandy and subsaline sites, in semideserts and deserts in oases. In Central Asia as a weed in crops. In mountains reaches 1800 m a.s.l.

Use and economic value.

Medicine, food, forage, technical.

References:

Tolmachev AI., ed. 1983. Atlas of medicinal plant ranges and resources in the USSR. Moscow: Principal Office of Geodesy and Cartography. 340 p. (In Russian).
Galushko AI. 1980. Flora of the North Caucasus: Handbook. V.2. 352 p. (In Russian).
Grossheim AA. 1952. Flora of Caucasus. 2nd ed. V.5. P.341-344. (In Russian).
Shishkin BK., Bobrov EG., eds. 1948. Flora URSS. V.13. 588 p. (In Russian).
Nikitin VV., Geldikhanov AM. 1988. Manual of plants of Turkmenistan. Leningrad: Nauka. 680 p. (In Russian).
Fedorov AA., Tzvelev NN., eds. 1987. Flora of the European part of the USSR. V.6. Leningrad: Nauka. 254 p. (In Russian).
Pavlov NV., ed. 1961. Flora of Kazakhstan. V.2. Alma-Ata. 515 p. (In Russian).
Polozhij AV., Malyshev LI., eds. 1994. Flora of Siberia. V.9. Fabaceae (Leguminosae). Novosibirsk: Nauka. 280 p. (In Russian).
Ovczinnikov PN., ed. 1978. Flora of Tadzhik Soviet Socialist Republic. V.5. Leningrad: Nauka. 678 p. (In Russian).
Kamelin RV., Kovalevskaya SS., Nabiev MM., eds. 1981. Manual of plants of Middle Asia. V.6. Tashkent. 395 p. (In Russian).
Roskov YR. et al. 2005. ILDIS World Database of Legumes. [Online] Available at: http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb?sciname=Glycyrrhiza%20glabra .

© N.I.Dzyubenko, E.A.Dzyubenko