Licorice root, Glycyrrhiza glabra

American Eclectic physicians kept licorice in the dispensatory as both an herb and a practical pharmacy ingredient. King’s American Dispensatory recorded extracts, solutions and a syrup of licorice, while Finley Ellingwood emphasized its sweet taste and its use for making bitter herbal mixtures easier to take. Modern herbalist Rosemary Gladstar likewise describes dried licorice root in decoctions, syrups, teas, tinctures and as a traditional chew stick. For ordinary home preparation, the cut root is usually simmered as a decoction rather than briefly steeped like a leaf tea.         4 oz. – $7.50 

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Licorice was already old medicine when Greek and Roman writers described it. Dioscorides and later Roman writers recorded preparations for the voice, chest, mouth and stomach. Seventeenth-century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper continued the tradition, describing licorice for roughness of the throat and hoarseness. These are historical uses rather than promises of modern medical effect.