glycyrrhiza

[Greek glykys sweet, and rhiza a root.] 1. Bot .: A genus of papilionaceous plants, subtribe Galegeæ. It has a tubular, five-cleft and two-lipped calyx, and an ovate compre ed one to four-seeded pod. Glycyrrhiza glabra is said to furnish the Spanish licorice. [LICORICE.] The roots of G. echinata and G. glandulifera are alleged to have the same qualities. 2. Pharm.: Licorice-root. The recent and dried root or underground stem of Glycyrrhiza glabra . It occurs in cylindrical-branched pieces, brown on the surface and yellow within, tough and pliable, sweet and mucilaginous to the taste. It contains a substance called Glycyrrhizin (q. v.), also asparagine, gum mucilage, . It is used as a powder in pills, and also to form Extractum glycyrrhizæ, extract of licorice, which is obtained by maceration and percolation of the root, and evaporation to a proper consistence. It is a sweet demulcent, useful to relieve coughing and to sheathe the mucous membrane. It is often given with powdered senna. gly-çğr-rhiz-In, s. [Eng. glycyrrhiz ( a ), -in.] Chem.: C44H63 NO18. A crystalline substance ob tained by boiling the root of glycyrrhiza glabra in alcohol, and evaporating the alcoholic solution to dryne . It is decomposed by boiling with dilute acids into glucose and glycyrrhetin. When fused with caustic potash it is converted into para-oxy benzoic acid, C6H4OH COOH (1—4), *glŷn, *glynne, s. [Irish.] A glen. (It occurs frequently in compound names of places in Ireland, as Glen does in Scotland.) "Though he could not beat out the Irish, yet he did shut them up within those narrow corners and glyns under the mountain's foot." - Spenser : State of Ireland. gly-ox-al, s . [Eng., ., gly ( col ); ox ( alic ), and al (dehyde).] Chem.: The diatomic aldehyde of glycol and of CO-H. oxalic acid, C2H2O2 or Obtained by the CO-H. gradual oxidation of ethyl-alcohol by nitric acid, the liquids being separated by a layer of water. Glyoxal is a transparent, deliquescent, amorphous substance; it is oxidized by dilute nitric acid into glyoxalic acid, and by concentrated nitric acid into oxalic acid. It reduces an ammoniacal solution of a silver salt, forming a metallic mirror; by the action of alkalis it is converted into glycollic acid. A very dilute solution of glyoxal, when warmed with a little pota ium cyanide, KCN, turns a dark hyle =matter.]