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October 8, 2007 : Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Keywords: Polypodiaceae | Polypodium glycyrrhiza D.C. Eaton | Skagit Valley Provincial Park
Peeking at the undersides of licorice fern fronds at this time of year often rewards you with a display of their orange, naked sori. The sori are clusters of sporangia, or spore-containing structures (see this illustration of the fern life cycle). The term naked is used because the sori lack a protective covering called the indusium; for comparison, here's a photograph of sori (partially) covered by indusia on Polystichum.
The epithet glycyrrhiza means sweet root and refers to the genus Glycyrrhiza, a member of the bean family. The root of Glycyrrhiza is better known as licorice (or liquorice). The rhizomes and stems of Polypodium glycyrrhiza are similarly flavoured, hence the common name of licorice fern.
Polypodium glycyrrhiza is distributed along the coastal regions of western North America, as well as the Kamchatka region of Asia. The Hardy Fern Library provides a detailed description of licorice fern.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at October 8, 2007 7:35 AM
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Comments
Posted by: Eric in SF at October 8, 2007 10:19 AM
This is truly Art in Nature - remarkable!
Posted by: Cyndy Henderson at October 8, 2007 11:12 AM
Great photography combined with illuminating education. Fascinating. Thanks so much.
Posted by: Knox at October 8, 2007 11:40 AM
Oh. Wow. This just took my breath away! I love the exquisite detail brought to us in these photos. Thank you for the views and for the botanic information!
Posted by: Robin Winburn at October 8, 2007 12:14 PM
Does this identification follow the recent interpretation, which splits the local species? I haven't paid enough attention to be able to tell from the pictures.
Posted by: Ron B at October 8, 2007 4:57 PM
I do appreciate the photograph today. It seem lately I have the oppotunity to see things other wise out of my area. This turely is a learning experience.
Thank you,
Margaret-Rae
Posted by: Margaret-Rae Davis at October 8, 2007 5:34 PM
this is another fine picture and links to
read my part of florida grows a lot of ferns
and big stag horns thank you nice to read the leaves have turned in ma i used to live there
and erics page is under constrction but looks
just fine
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at October 8, 2007 7:01 PM
eric; I did taste the sap once as a friend had indicated to me that it was edible. Both she and i each sucked on a 1 inch piece of rhizome. Unfortunately, hours later, i got very sick, but she didn't. I don't have the desire to suck on the rhizome anymore.
Posted by: Ian Sturges at October 12, 2007 4:26 AM
We chewed on a piece of the rhizome yesterday on our walk in the bush.. it is a very concentrated licorice flavour for sure... I live on Vancouver Island, and it is plentiful here...
Posted by: Donna Frakes at October 21, 2007 11:40 AM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
Lovely colors and textures!
Are there any dangers to tasting the sap from a rhizome or stem? Someone commented on a fern photo of mine once "Did the rhizome taste like licorice?" My deep fear of plant poisonings made me recoil at the thought.