Flora of North America species comparison

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Polypodium glycyrrhiza

licorice fern, licorice polypody fern
Stems

not whitish pruinose, slender to moderately stout, to 6 mm diam., intensely sweet, licorice-flavored;

scales concolored, brown or slightly darker near point of attachment, lanceolate to lanceolate-ovate, symmetric, margins entire.
Leaves

to 75 cm.
Petiole

usually slender, 0.5–2 mm diam.
Blade

lanceolate-ovate to oblong, pinnatifid, widest near middle or just below, to 16 cm wide, herbaceous, rarely slightly leathery;

rachis sparsely scaly to glabrescent abaxially, puberulent adaxially;

scales linear, usually less than 3 cells wide.
Segments

linear to oblong, less than 12 mm wide;

margins serrate;

apex acute to attenuate;

midrib puberulent adaxially.
Sori

midway between margin and midrib or slightly closer to midrib, usually less than 3 mm diam., circular to oval when immature.
Spores

less than 58 µm, verrucose, with surface projections less than 3 µm.
Venation

free.
Sporangiasters

absent.
2n

= 74.

Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Phenology Sporulating late fall–spring.
Habitat Cliffs and rocky slopes along coasts, often epiphytic, on a variety of substrates
Elevation 0–700 m. (0–2300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AK; CA; ID; OR; WA; BC; YT; Asia in Kamchatka in the former Soviet republics
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Polypodium glycyrrhiza hybridizes with P. calirhiza and with P. hesperium to produce sterile triploids with misshapen spores. Polypodium glycyrrhiza was involved in the origin of both of these allotetraploid species, and some individuals can be difficult to identify. Free versus anastomosing venation distinguishes this species from P. calirhiza; the presence of adaxial hairs on the rachis separates it from P. hesperium. An additional character for distinguishing these taxa is spore length, which is less than 58 µm in diploid P. glycyrrhiza and more than 58 µm in the two tetraploid species. Reports of P. glycyrrhiza occurring in Arizona (T. Reeves 1981; D. B. Lellinger 1985) are based on misidentified specimens.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 2.
Parent taxa Polypodiaceae > Polypodium
Sibling taxa
P. amorphum, P. appalachianum, P. californicum, P. calirhiza, P. hesperium, P. saximontanum, P. scouleri, P. sibiricum, P. triseriale, P. virginianum
Synonyms P. aleuticum, P. falcatum, P. occidentale, P. vulgare subsp. occidentale, P. vulgare var. falcatum, P. vulgare var. occidentale
Name authority D. C. Eaton: Amer. J. Sci. Arts ser. 2, 22: 138. (1856)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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