Licorice

Template:Disambiguation Licorice may refer to one of two clinically distinct species sharing the common name:

• Western licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) - the Mediterranean and Western Asian species, the historical centroid of European, Ayurvedic, and Unani licorice use; carries the load-bearing pseudohyperaldosteronism safety story; the basis of modern deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL) preparations.
• Chinese licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) - the East Asian species, the central TCM licorice (gan cao); the harmonizer of approximately sixty percent of classical Chinese herbal formulas.

Whole-stick or powdered "licorice" of unspecified species is often unidentifiable as glabra or uralensis after processing; the two are routinely substituted in commerce. The clinical pharmacology of glycyrrhizin and pseudohyperaldosteronism is essentially shared across the two species.