Product name: Licorice

Licorice is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Glycyrrhiza in the Leguminosae family. It is also known as Ural licorice, sweet root, sweet grass, and Guolao. Its roots and rhizomes are thick, with brown skin and sweet taste. Odd-pinnate compound leaves, both sides of the leaflets are densely covered with yellow-brown glandular dots and short soft hairs, and the edges are entire or slightly wavy. The racemes are axillary, the calyx is bell-shaped; the corolla is purple, white or yellow; the pods are curved in a sickle shape or ring shape, densely balled, and densely covered with tumor-like protrusions and thorny glands. The flowering period is from June to August, and the fruiting period is from July to October.

Licorice is distributed in northern China, Mongolia, Siberia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and other countries and regions in Eurasia, and in the provinces and regions of Northeast China, North China, and Northwest China in China. Licorice often grows on dry sandy land, river bank sandy land, hillside grassland and salinized soil. Licorice likes an ecological environment with sufficient sunlight, little rainfall, and a large temperature difference between winter and summer and between day and night. It is light-loving, drought-resistant, heat-resistant, salt-alkali-resistant, and cold-resistant.

The roots and rhizomes of licorice are used for medicinal purposes, and have the effects of invigorating qi, detoxifying, and harmonizing various medicines. They can treat shortness of breath, abdominal pain, food poisoning, and other symptoms. Licorice and its extracts have broad application prospects in industries such as food, tobacco, and daily chemicals. They can be used as food sweeteners and additives for tobacco, toothpaste, and cosmetics. Licorice forms crisscrossing mesh lateral roots and underground stems underground, which have excellent ability to resist wind and sand and prevent soil erosion and play an important role in ecological protection and environmental improvement in arid areas.