Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Polypodium saximontanum
licorice fern, licorice polypody fern
Rocky Mountain polypody
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.
often whitish pruinose, slender, to 6 mm diam., acrid-tasting;
scales weakly bicolored, lanceolate, contorted distally, bases and margins light brown, sometimes with dark central stripe, margins often coarsely dentate.
to 75 cm.
to 25 cm.
usually slender, 0.5–2 mm diam.
slender, to 1.5 mm diam.
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.
oblong to linear, pinnatifid, usually widest near middle, to 4 cm wide, somewhat leathery;
rachis sparsely scaly to glabrescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially;
scales lanceolate-ovate, usually more than 6 cells wide.
linear to oblong, less than 12 mm wide;
margins serrate;
apex acute to attenuate;
midrib puberulent adaxially.
oblong, less than 12 mm wide;
margins entire to crenulate;
apex rounded to broadly acute;
midrib glabrous adaxially.
midway between margin and midrib or slightly closer to midrib, usually less than 3 mm diam., circular to oval when immature.
midway between margin and midrib to nearly marginal, less than 3 mm diam., circular when immature.
less than 58 µm, verrucose, with surface projections less than 3 µm. 2n = 74.
more than 58 µm, tuberculate, surface projections more than 3 µm tall.
free.
free.
absent.
present, usually less than 40 per sorus, heads with a few glandular hairs or rarely without glands.
= 148.
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Polypodium saximontanum
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.)
Polypodium saximontanum is an allotetraploid species whose progenitor diploid species are P. amorphum and P. sibiricum (M. D. Windham 1993). Prior to its recognition as a distinct species, collections of P. saximontanum were variously referred to P. montense F. A. Lang (= P. amorphum), P. hesperium, and/or P. virginianum. In addition to its separate geographic range, P. saximontanum can be distinguished from P. virginianum by having narrower leaves and a reduced frequency of glandular hairs on its sporangiasters. Polypodium saximontanum also has a separate range from P. amorphum and has spores with large (greater than 3 µm tall) projections. Although P. saximontanum overlaps in range with P. hesperium, the latter species has no sporangiasters. Tetraploid hybrids of these two species have misshapen spores.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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