BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
licorice fern
| Scientific Name: | Polypodium glycyrrhiza D.C. Eat. | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | licorice fern | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Kartesz, J.T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland. 2nd edition. 2 vols. Timber Press, Portland, OR. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vascular Plant | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | POLYGLY | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (May 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Apr 2019) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2010) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | Long-creeping, licorice-flavored rhizome; stipes 2-18(27) cm long; the expanded portion of the frond ovate-lanceoloate to nearly oblong, 6(8)-23(35) cm long, 2.5-7(12) cm wide, deeply pinnatifid, truncate at the base, acuminate to acute at the apex; sori are naked (no indusium); terrestrail on shaded banks, epiphytic on tree trunks, or occasionally epipetric. | ||||||||||
| Technical Description: | Rhizome firm, licorice-flavored; leaves larger than in P. hesperium, the petiole 6-30 cm long, the blade (10) 15-50 cm long and (4.5) 5-20 cm wide with 10-30 pairs of offset pinnae; pinnae finely serrulate to occasionally incised, decurrent on the rachis, linear-oblong to lance-subulate, sometimes carrying their width to well above the middle, more often tapering gradually from near the middle (or even near the base) to the slender tip, obscurely purbulent along the costa and sometimes also finely glandular, but without ramentum, the largest ones (2.5) 3-13 cm. long and 5-13 mm wide, borne near or below the middle of the blade, the lowest ones moderately or scarcely reduced, the distal ones gradually reduced and confluent; veins forking, free, ending in more or less evident hydathodes; sori borne a little nearer to the costa than to the margins, rotund-elliptic, mostly 1.5-2.5 mm long, without paraphyses; plants fruiting from mid- and late summer into the fall, the fertile leaves persisting into the following year (Hitchcock, et al. 1969). | ||||||||||
| Diagnostic Characteristics: | Rhizome slender to moderately stout with intensely sweet licorice flavor. | ||||||||||
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Occurs in maritime to submaritime cool mesothermal climates on very shallow, calcium rich soils, on tree trunks, mossy logs, rocks, and moist banks. | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Elevation (m) (min / max): | Provincial: | ||||||||||
| Known Pests: | |||||||||||
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| Dispersal: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Inventory | |||||||||||
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| Economic Attributes | |||||||||||
| Global Economic Use: |
FOOD
MEDICINE/DRUG |
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| Global Economic Comments: | The rhizomes of this fern exhibit a bittersweet taste and have a history of human use in the Pacific northwest region, both as foodstuff and as a medical agent (Kim et al., 1988). | ||||||||||
| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Chiefly near the coast (but not really maritime), extending inland to the w. base of the Cascade Mtns., and in the Columbia R. Gorge; Kamtchatka and the Aluetian Is. to s. Alaska, s. to c. California, and disjunct in northern Idaho. | ||||||||||
| Disjunct, more common elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Peripheral, major distribution elsewhere: | |||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | KMH | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Dec 22, 1992 | ||||||||||
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| Last Literature Search: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Berch, S. M., S. Gamiet, and E. Deom. 1988. Mycorrhizal status of some plants of southwestern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Botany 66(10): 1924-1928. |
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Caicco, S. L. 1987. National Natural Landmark evaluation. Aquarius proposed Research Natural Area (Idaho). Prepared for U. S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Seattle, WA. 24 pp. plus appendices. |
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Chambers, K. L. 1973. Floristic relationships of Onion Peak with Saddle Mountain, Clatsop County, Oregon. Madrono 22(3): 105-114. |
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Graf, P. E. 1974. Successional stages of red alder in Bonner County, Idaho. Unpublished thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow. 146 pp. |
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Haufler, C. H., M. D. Windham, F. A. Lang, and S. A. Whitmore. 1990. Polypodiaceae. Polypodium. Unpublished manuscript for the Flora of North America Project. 17 pp. |
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Hitchcock, C.L., A. Cronquist, M. Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular plants of the Pacific Northwest. Part 1: Vascular cryptogams, gymnosperms, and monocotyledons. Univ. Washington Press, Seattle. 914 pp. |
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Kim, J., J. M. Pezzuto, D. D. Soejarto, F. A. Lang, and A. D. Kinghorn. 1988. Polypodoside A, an intensley sweet constituent of the rhizomes of Polypodium glycyrrhiza. Journal of Natural Products 51(6): 1166-172. |
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Klinka, K., V.J. Krajina, A. Ceska, and A.M. Scagel. 1989. Indicator Plants of Coastal British Columbia. UBC Press, Vancouver. 288 pp. |
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Lang, F. A. 1969. A new name for a species of Polypodium from northwestern North America. Madrono 20: 53-60. |
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Lorain, C. C. 1991b. Action plan for sensitive plant species on the Clearwater National Forest. Unpublished report. 63 pp. plus appendices. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1992. Species Summary: Polypodium glycyrrhiza. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Mar 27, 2026).