Licorice Fern - polypodium glycyrrhiza

Appearance

• Leaves: smooth and leathery
• Fronds: 25 to 30 cm
• Plants: from less than15 cmto80 cm tall
• Spores in yellowish clusters

Habitat

• It grows from Big Leaf Maple and Red Alder
• Licorice fern grows in wetlands

Growth Habit

• The Licorice Fern is a perennial plant
• They die back in late summer

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Natural History

• Animals eat off the licorice fern
• The Makahs used the licorice ferntreating for coughs
• Cowlitz crushed the rhizome to make aninfusion to drink for measles
• The root can be washed,peeled, and chewed to experience the licorice taste
• The native name meant ‘'sweet root''