Description

Glycyrrhiza glabra, licorice, is a deep-rooted perennial herb of the family Fabaceae, native to the Mediterranean basin and southwestern Asia from Turkey through Iran and Central Asia to northwestern India, commercially cultivated across Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Punjab. The horizontal, spreading root and rhizome are 50 times sweeter than sucrose due to the triterpenoid saponin glycyrrhizin. Known in Ayurveda as Yashtimadhu and documented in the Charaka Samhita as a premier Medhya Rasayana, Vrishya (aphrodisiac), and Jivana (life-promoting) herb, Mulethi root is incorporated into a vast range of classical formulations including Yashtimadhu Ghrita, Sitopaladi Churna, and Chyawanprash. It is also a foundational drug in Unani, Chinese, European, and Egyptian pharmacopoeias — one of the most universally documented medicinal plants in the world.