Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
Yashtimadhu- Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza
glabra)
Dr.
Hemant Vinze (M. S.)
Introduction
Yashtimadhu-Licorice/Liquorice
(Glycyrrhiza glabra) exhibiting pleotropic pharmacological
activity has been used as a
medicine worldwide since ancient times. In India it has been in vogue as a
traditional medicine for more than 3000 years. Its use as a medicine
has been described in Ayurveda, a system of medicine in ancient India.
The word yashtimadhu is made up of two words: yashti
and madhu where yashti stands for stalk (stem of a plant) or cudgels (a short,
thick stick), and madhu stands for honey or sweet; thus literally meaning a
"sweet stem" or a "sweet stick". The word licurice or
liquorice also means a "sweet root".
The genus-name " Glycyrrhiza" is derived
from two Greek words: Glykys, meaning "sweet" and Rhiza meaning
"root". The species-name
glabra (from glaber) means " bald or hairless". Thus the botanical or
taxonomic name literally means " a bald or hairless, straight, thick,
sweet root or stalk" [1]
The German name Suβholz or Sussholz or Lakritze, the
French Relisse or Zoethout and the Finnish Lakritsikasvi or Lakritsi
are directly translated from Liquorice.
In Ayurveda and
traditional medical practices in India, more than 1250 polyherbal formulations
containing yashtimadhu are described. In Indian tradition, special foods
serving to eliminate excess of fat, toxins and replenish deficiencies contain
yashtimadhu as one of the ingredients. Herbal medicinal formulations
prescribed for rejuvenation and restore physique contain yashtimadhu.
In Chinese yashtimadhu
is known by various names: "Gam chou, Gam cao, Kan tsau" etc.
References to the effectiveness of Gam chou as medicine are contained in the
Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing, the first Chinese dispensary. In Chinese book of
medicines, medicinal plants are classified in three classes: (1) plants with
lowest side-effects and non toxic for use in health care. (2) plants with
lowest toxicity or weak toxicity and can be used as medicines with due care and
(3) toxic plants that can be used as medicines with much care.
Gam chou is described as belonging to class one. Gam chou is recommended for lengthening
one's life span, improving health, healing of wounds, reducing swelling and
edema, and for its detoxification effect. In the earlier Chinese
medicinal book "Shang Han Lun" seventy prescriptions include Gam cao.
[2], [3]
In Japanese yashtimadhu
(licorice) is known as " Kanzo" (pronounced as kanzou). Despite being
in use as medicine for centuries and despite the high demand, no strain of
Kanzo was cultivated in Japan. It means Kanzo used in pharmaceutical industry
in Japan is mostly imported from places such as China or the Middle East. As
this caused the price of Konzo to increase year by year, the Japanese have now
started cultivating Kanzo. In Japanese Pharmacopoeia only Glycyrrhiza glabra and Glycyrrhiza
uralensis are permitted to be used for medicinal purpose. [4]
In the Western world
the history of licorice can be traced back to 3000 years. The Egyptians and
Assyrians used licorice as medicine and food flavoring
agent.
For their long grueling
campaigns the Roman battalions considered licorice an indispensable ration. It
was said that the Roman soldiers could go on up to ten days without eating or
drinking water as the properties of licorice helped them to build stamina and
energy which allayed both hunger and thirst (??).
The
Benedictine monks who migrated from Spain during the crusades (a series of
religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church), brought licorice plant to their
monastery in ancient West Yorkshire. In Pontefract town, UK, initially licorice
was grown and its extract was used to flavor drinks. Around 500 years ago, the
locals started to make locorice candies and known as Pontefract Cakes (AKA
Pomfret cakes and Pomfrey cakes). While licorice plants do not exist anymore in
Pontefract, the candy is still made to this day. In the year 1305, King
Edward I, levied a duty on the sale of licorice, which went to help finance the
repair of London Bridge. [5]. [6]
In
the USA licorice is a weed of moist roadside sites. Licorice is also cultivated
as a crop plant particularly in Russia, Spain and Middle East. [7]
Yashtimadhu
is used in small amounts in many formulas to harmonize the action of the other
herbs. Hence it is called the "peace-maker"
Other
names
Latin/Botanical/
Scientific/Taxonomic: Glycyrrhiza
glabra L
Sanskrit: Yashtimadhu,
Madhuka, Klitaka, Yashtyahva
English: Licorice,
Liquorice, Sweet wood, Spanish Juice, Black Sugar
Arabic: Aslussieesa
Bengali: Jashtimadhu,
Jaishbomodhu
Gujarati: Jethimadhu
Hindi: Mulethee,
Mulaithi, Jothimadha, Jethimadhu
Kannada: Yashtimadhuka,
Atimadhuraa
Kashmiri: Shanger
Maraathee: Jeshthamadha
Malayalam: Iratimadhuram
Oriya: Jatimadhu
Tamil: Atimadhuram
Telugu: Atimadhuranu,
Yashtimadhukam
Urdu: Mulathi
[8], [9], [10]
Scientific
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Subkingdom: Viridiplantae
InfraKingdom: Streptophyta
(Land Plants)
Super
Division: Embryophyta
Division: Tracheophyta
(Tracheophytes or Vascular Plants)
Sub
Division: Spermatophytina
((Spermatophytes or Seed Plants)
Class: Magnoliopsida
Super
Order: Rosanae
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae (
Peas & Legumes)
Genus: Glycyrrhiza
Species: Glabra
(Cultivated Licorice) [11]
Different
Varities of Yashtimadhu (Glycirrhiza glabra)
A)
According to Ayurveda:
1.
Jalaja: Growing near rich water supply
2.
Sthalaja: Growing on dry land
B)
According to availability in India:
1. Glycirrhiza
glabra (Typical): Spanish Licorice
2. Glycirrhiza
glabra (Glandulifera): Russian Licorice
3. Glycirrhiza
glabra (Violacea): Persian Licorice. [12]
Adulterants
and Substitutes:
For
medicinal purpose Glycirrhiza glabra is considered as par excellence.
Other varieties such as Glycirriza uralensis are substitutes or
adulterants. [13]
Geographical
distribution
Yashtimadhu
(Glycyrrhiza glabra) is native to Eurasia, northern Africa and western Asia. It
grows up to 1200 meters above sea
level. It has been introduced to USA where it grows as a weed of road side
sites. It is also cultivated as a crop
plant in Russia, Spain and Middle East. Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra)
enjoys fertile, sandy soil near a river or stream where plenty of water
is available for the plant to flourish in the wild or under cultivation where
it can be irrigated. The
plant is naturalized in the oases but it is not used for therapeutic
value. Waste land and slightly saline areas could also be used to
cultivate Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra).
In
India Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is found in Jammu, Kashmir,
Dehradun and Delhi. [14], [15], [16]
Plant
Morphology
Macroscopic
The
Plant
Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is an herb belonging to pea and bean family. Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is a perennial, robust shrub. It grows in subtropical and temperate zone. It reaches a height of 1 to 2 meters. It is cultivated for its underground stems.
The
Root
The
root is a long, sturdy, primary tap root, about 15 cm long, subdivides into 3
to 5 subsidiary roots reaching up
to 1.25 meter in length, wrinkled, brown in color, scaly yellow texture inside
when the outer skin is removed. Secondary and tertiary roots originate from
primary root which may reach 8 meters in length. It has a characteristic
pleasant smell.
The
Stem
The
stems are stolons. The underground stems grow horizontally up to 2 meters in
length, highly branched. The stems are
sturdy, erect, hairy, branched from the base or from further up, rough at the
top.
[Note: In
botany, stolons are stems which grow at the level of soil surface or just below
ground that form adventitious roots at the nodes, and new plants from the buds.
The stolons are often called runners. The rhizomes, in contrast, are root-like
stems that may either grow horizontally at the soil surface or in other
orientations underground. Thus, not all horizontal stems are called stolons.
Plants with stolons are called Stoloniferous plants. Thus
Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhizaglabra) is a Stoloniferous plant.]
The
Leaves
The leaves are
conjoint, alternate, ovate, divided into 9 to 17 leaflets, odd pinnate 10 to 20
cm long; leaflets in 3 to 8 pairs, along a central axis, 2 to 4 cm long, bear
dotted glands on the surface, stipules small and drooping. The leaflets are
covered with soft hairs on underside.
The
Flowers
The
flowers, the axillary inflorescences, upright, spike-like, bluish to pale
violet in color, held in loose conical spires 10 to 15 cm long, pedicle short;
calyx short, bell shaped, glandular and hairy; the tips of calyx longer than
the tube, pointed, lanceolate; petals narrow; the caryna petals are not fused,
pointed but not beaked.
The
Fruits (Pods)
The
fruits are pods, reddish brown in color, 1.5 to 2.5 cm long and 4 to 6 mm wide,
erect, splayed, flat with thick sutures, glabrous, reticulate, pitted, contains
2 to 5 seeds.
The
Seeds
The
seeds in pods, 3 to 5, brown to blackish in color, reniform in shape. [17],
[18], [19], [20], [21], [22]
Microscopic
Characteristics
----1----
Stolon
The transverse
section of stolon is more or less rounded. Phellem (Cork) several layered with
tabular cells; outer layers filled with reddish brown contents, inner
colorless. Phellogen (the meristematic cell layer responsible for the development
of the periderm) indistinct; phelloderm three to five layered, collenchymatous;
some of the cells contain calcium oxalate crystals and minute starch grains.
Secondary phloem with numerous concentrically arranged bundles of phloem fibres
and surrounded by a parenchymatous sheath containing prisms of calcium oxalate.
Medullary rays distinct, biseriate to multiseriate, parenchymatous, in
continuation with those of xylem. The rays are narrower in xylem region and
wider in phloem region. Xylem consists of vessels, fibres and lignified wood
parenchyma. The unpeeled drug shows the presence of polyhedral tubular brownish
cork cells. In stolons, pith is present and is parenchymatous.
Root
The
root is nearly cylindrical, up to 2 cm in diameter, externally wrinkled with
patches of cork. The root is characterized by the presence of tetrarch xylem
and absence of pith;fracture, coarsely fibrous.
Powder
The
powder is identified by (1) the character and location of starch-grains and
crystals; (2) the numerous bast-fibers (also called phloem fibers) of peculiar appearance
and almost identical wood-fibers; and (3) peculiar sieve tissue. The starch
grains are irregularly spheroidal or polygonal, mostly solitary, 1.5 to
20 µ in diameter, contained in medullary-ray and parenchyma-cells, often
associated with prismatic calcium oxalate crystals and sometimes oil-globules.
The bast (phloem) and wood-fibers are yellow, thick walled and doubly pointed.
The cavities of sieve-tubes are obliterated by thickening of cell wall. [23]
----2----
Surface
Unpeeled
ones yellowish brown in color with longitudinal wrinkles, peeled ones yellow in
color with longitudinal ridges. In case of stolons, scars of buds can be seen
Fracture
Coarsely
fibrous in the region of the bark and splintery in the wood. The fractured
surface shows long fibers projecting outwards.
1.
Periderm (Corky outer layer of a plant stem)
Several
layers with tabular cells, outer layers are filled with reddish brown contents
and inner few are colorless.
Phellogen (A
layer of tissue giving rise to cork tissue)
Indistinct
Phelloderm: 3 to 5 layered, immediately below cork, parenchymatous cells whose
corners thickened with cellulose (collenchymatous); some cells contain prism
shaped calcium oxalate crystals and minute starch grains.
2.
Secondary phloem
Wide
zone with numerous concentracally arranged bundles of phloem fibers, each
bundle is surrounded by a parenchymatous sheath whose cells contain prism
shaped crystals of calcium oxalate. Radially the fiber bundles alternated with
soft phloem elements and tangentially with medullary rays.
3.
Medullary rays
Distinct,
biseriate to multiseriate, parenchymatous, in continuation with those of xylem,
however the rays narrower in the region of xylem and wider in the region of
phloem.
4.
Secondary xylem
Well
represented, divided by large medullary rays at regular interval. Xylem
consists of vessels, fibers, and lignified wood parenchyma. The vessels which
are relatively wide show scalariform and bordered pitted thickenings, wood
fibers unsheathed by a layer of parenchyma containing crystals and starch
grain.
5. Pith
Consists
of large parenchyma with intercellular spaces and contain few starch grains.
Pith absent in root. [24]
----3---
Stolon
The
transverse section of stolon shows cork of 10-20 or more layers of tabular
cells, outer layer with reddish-brown amorphous contents, inner 3 or 4
rows having thicker, colourless walls; secondary cortex usually of 1- 3 layers
of radially arranged parenchymatous cells containing isolated prisms of calcium
oxalate; secondary phloem a broad band, cells of inner part cellulosic and
outer lignified, radially arranged groups of about 10- 50 fibres, surrounded by
a sheath of parenchyma cells, each usually containing a prism of calcium
oxalate about 10- 35 µ long; cambium form tissue of 3 or more layers of cells;
secondary xylem distinctly radiate with medullary rays, 3- 5 cells wide,
vessels about 80-200 µ in diameter with thick, yellow, those of phloem; xylem
parenchyma of two kinds, those between the vessels having thick pitted walls
without inter-cellular spaces, the remaining with thin walls; pith of
parenchymatous cells in longitudinal rows, with inter- cellular spaces.
Root-
The
transverse section of root shows structure of closely resembling that of stolon
except that no medulla is present; xylem tetrarch; usually four principal
medullary rays at right angles to each other; in peeled drug cork shows phelloderm
and sometimes without secondary phloem; all parenchymatous tissues containing
abundant, simple, oval or rounded starch
grains, 2-20 µ in length. [25]
Parts
used
Roots
Phytochemistry
The phytochemical
composition of Yashimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra) has been studied extensively.
The phytochemicals are----
Triterpenes
belonging to oleanane type: Glycyrrhizin (in the form of potassium and
calcium salts), glycyrrhitic acid (agylcone glycyrrhetinic acid), licoric
acid, glabrolide, isoglabrolide, deoxyglabrolide, glycyrrhetol
and phytosterols
Acids: Glycyrrhizic
acid (which on hydrolysis yields one molecule of glycyrrhetic acid and two
molecules of glycuronic acid) olic acid
Flavonoids
and Isoflavonoids: Liquirtin,
isoliquertin, liquiritigenin and rhamnoliquiritin. quercetin, kempferol,
astragalin (a glucoside of kempferol), licuraside, kumatakenin, glyzarin,
glabrol, glabrone, neoliquiritin, formononetin, liciflavonol, licoisoflavonone, licoisoflavononesA
and B, licoricone
Five
new flavonoids isolated from the root are: glucoliquiritin apioside,
phenyllicoflavone A, shinflavanone, shinpterocarpin and 1-methoxyphaseolin
Phenylated
biaurone: Licoagrone
Flavones
and Isoflavones: Glisoflavone,
isoflavone, 7-acetoxy-2-methylisoflavone, 7-methoxy-2-methylisoflavone,
7-hydroxyl-2 methylisoflavone liquiritigenin, isoliquiritigenin, liquiritoside,
glyzaglabdrin (7,2- dihydroxy 3-4-methylenedihydroxy flavone), glabranin
A
new prenylated isoflavan derivative, kanzonol R was isolated from
root
Glycosides/
Glucosides: Quercetrin,
glucopyranoside,
Coumarins: Licopyranocoumarin,
licoarylcoumarin, coumarin-GU-12, herniarin, glycyrin, umbelliferone,
liqcoumarin
Chalcones: Rhamnoisoliquiritin,
echinatin, liquiritigenin,
isoliquiritigenin, licochalcones A and B licuraside, neosoliquiritin and many
more
Isoprenoid-substituded
phenolic compounds: Semilicoisoflavone B, 1-methoxyficifolinol,
isoangustone A and licorifenone.
Sugars: Glucose up
to 3.8 percent, sucrose 2.4 to 6.5 percent
Polysaccharides: mostly
glucans, starch
Volatile
compounds: which
include benzaldehyde, fenchone, furfuryl alcohol and linalool oxide A and B,
pentanol, hexanol, geraniol, tetramethyl pyrazine,
terpinen-4-ol, α-terpineol
Various
amino acids
Bitter
princilpes, mannite, asparagines 2 to 4 percent and fat 0.8 percent, aspargin.
[26],
[27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32]
References:
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http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Glyc_gla.html
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Last updated Sep 2, 2015
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