licorice fern
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
The rhizomes contain glycyrrhizin, a compound up to 50 times sweeter than sugar, which was traditionally chewed by Indigenous peoples to treat sore throats.
- Scientific name
- Polypodium glycyrrhiza
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Polypodiopsida › Polypodiales › Polypodiaceae › Polypodium
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Moist temperate rainforests, often growing epiphytically on bigleaf maples, wet cliffs, and mossy logs.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis, absorbing water and nutrients from moss mats and air).
- Range
- Pacific Northwest of North America, Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Northern California
- Size
- Fronds typically 10 to 70 cm long
- Lifespan
- Perennial (rhizomes can live for decades)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss from logging of old-growth host trees and urban development.
- Safe to approach?
- Completely harmless and safe to touch. You can closely observe this fern growing on tree trunks or damp rocks. Please do not tear the rhizomes from their host trees, as this damages the local mossy ecosystems.
Polypodium glycyrrhiza , commonly known as licorice fern , many-footed fern , and sweet root , is a summer deciduous fern native to western North America, primarily in a narrow strip in southern Alaska, southwestern Yukon Territory, western British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California, though two highly disjunct populations are known from Idaho and Arizona. It thrives in a humid climate, prevailing in areas with cool and moist summers and warm and wet winters. P. glycyrrhiza can often be found...
Photo: Alex Abair, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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