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Polypodium glycyrrhiza
A small epiphytic fern native to damp, shaded coastal forests of northwestern North America, grown in gardens for its tough, creeping rhizome and deciduous fronds. Keep it cool and moist with shade.
Polypodium glycyrrhiza, commonly known as licorice fern, many-footed fern, and sweet root, is a summer deciduous fern native to northwestern North America, where it is found in shaded, damp locations.
Spores are located in rounded sori on the undersides of the fronds, and are released in cool weather and high humidity.
Licorice fern is cultivated as an ornamental garden plant. The cultivar 'Longicaudatum' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The sweet flavor of the rhizome was once attributed to the glycoside glycyrrhizin. However, a study has shown that the flavor may actually be due to polypodoside, which is 600 times sweeter than 6% sucrose solution.
It occurs primarily in a narrow near-coastal strip in southern Alaska, southwestern Yukon Territory, western British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California, with a disjunct population in Idaho.
Licorice fern is chewed for flavor by numerous indigenous groups, including the Squamish, Shishalh, Comox, Nuxalk, Haida, and Kwakwaka'wakw. The rhizomes were also usually used medicinally as a treatment for the cold and sore throats.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Polypodium glycyrrhiza by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
