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
Phyllostegia glabra Phyllostegia glabra Phyllostegia glabra is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common name ulihi phyllostegia. It is endemic to Hawaii. One variety of this species, var. "lanaiensis", is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States. It is a perennial herb with reddish or red-veined green leaves and white or white-tinged flowers. It differs from the variety "glabra" in the size of its sepals and leaves. The rare variety "lanaiensis" has not been seen since a single specimen was recorded on Lanai in the 1980s. It may still exist on the island,