Polypodium glycyrrhiza

Licorice Fern
Polypodium glycyrrhiza
Type: Evergreen Fern
Exposure: Full Shade to Full Sun (in cooler summer areas)
Water: Regular to Drought Tolerant

One for Jill

These are the evergreen native ferns that are frequently seen populating stumps, logs, mossy rock crevasses, even the branches of living trees here on Vancouver Island, and all up and down the pacific coast, from Alaska south to California. Gracefully arching, 18in (45cm) tall and wide, medium green fronds that are a staple of our temperate rainforest will often colonize entire cliffsides. For this reason, they are a natural candidate for native plantings, for growing out of nooks and crannies in a dry-stack wall, or between rocks in a rock garden. Licorice fern is so-named because the rhizomes have a sweet licorice flavor. They were widely used by the Kwakwaka’wakw, Salish, Nuxalk, Haida and Shishalh First Nations as a treatment for coughs and chest ailments. In the wild, they are generally only found at elevations less than 600m (1969ft).

Fun Fact: Licorice Ferns contain polypodoside A, which is said to be 600 times sweeter than sugar.

Cheers,

John