Glycyrrhiza lepidota be sweet and were used as food and for medicinal purposes by Native Americans. After eating a roasted root in 1806, Meriwether Lewis described an "agreeable flavour not unlike the sweet pittaitoe." American licorice is not sweet from sugar but from glycyrrhizin. Glycyrrhizin may increase blood pressure (aka hypertension) by interfering with cortisol conversion. The Zuni people chew the root to keep the mouth sweet and moist. American licorice is grazed by cattle, but not preferred and will increase under grazing as competing plants are grazed off. The new growth can be toxic. It has light green to white flowers
Schisandra glabra more. Leaves are elliptic to cordate (heart-shaped), up to 13 cm (5.2 inches) long. The plant is monoecious, with staminate (male, pollen-producing) and pistillate (female, seed-producing) flowers separate on the same plant. Sepals are whitish, petals pink or red. Berries are red, spherical to ellipsoid, up to 15 mm (0.6 inches) long. It can be found in wooded bluffs, hillsides and ravines at elevations less than 500 m (1650 feet). Some sources spell the name "Schizandra", while others use the now-rejected name "Stellandria". "Schisandra" is the accepted spelling. Schisandra glabra Schisandra glabra, the bay star-vine, is the only American species