Licorice

Licorice is mainly produced in such places as Jiuquan, Zhangye, Wuwei and Qingyang of Gansu Province. It is sweet and mild; it passes through heart, lung, spleen and stomach. Its functions include invigorating spleen and replenishing qi, clearing away heat and toxic material, expelling phlegm and arresting coughing, relieving spasm and pain, moderating the property of herbs It is mainly used for such symptoms as weakness of the spleen and the stomach, malaise and fatigue, palpitation and short of breath, cough with copious whitish viscid sputum, acute pain of gastral cavity and abdomen, abscess and sore toxin. Licorice is the king of medicines. Because it can resolve hundreds of toxins and moderating many medicines, it is renowned as "Guolao". It can alleviate the toxicity and of drastic action of medicines. Modern studies find that Licorice has such effects as resisting allergy and resisting tumors.