Liquorice milk-vetch

Astragalus glycyphyllos (liquorice milk-vetch, wild liquorice) is a sprawling perennial herb of the legume family (Fabaceae), producing trailing or ascending stems up to about 100 cm long from a stout taproot. The pinnately compound leaves are 10–20 cm long with 4–6 pairs of broadly oval, somewhat fleshy leaflets and a terminal leaflet, the foliage having a mildly sweet taste that gives the species its name (glycyphyllos = "sweet-leaved"). From June to August it bears short, dense axillary racemes of greenish-yellow to cream pea-like flowers about 11–15 mm long, followed by curved, almost glabrous cylindrical pods 30–40 mm long containing several seeds. Native to most of Europe (excluding Ireland, Iceland, and the Greek islands), Western Asia (northern Iran, Turkey), the Caucasus, Siberia, and Central Asia (north-eastern Kazakhstan), and introduced near the Great Lakes in North America, it grows in dry grassy banks, scrub margins, open woodland, and hedgerows on calcareous or sandy soils.