Quality Botanical Art & Affordable Prices

Vorobik Botanical Art

P.O. Box 866, Lopez Island, WA 98261. 510-520-2423. vorobik@gmail.com

All images on this site copyright Linda Ann Vorobik unless otherwise stated; Use granted only with written permission.

 
 
 

 

 

click on image for detail view

Western Licorice Fern, Detail View

Polypodium glycyrrhiza--click on image for detail view

Family: Polypodiaceae

Original: Private Collection

Prints--200 edition, Giclee, Arches Watercolor paper, 11 by 14 inches

Cards--5 by 7 inches

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Western Licorice Fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza)

Polypodiaceae ~ Licorice Fern Family

One of several licorice ferns found in the west, Western Licorice Fern occurs from the San Francisco Bay area of California north to Alaska, and from the coast east to the Sierra Nevada, Cascades, and coastal mountains to the north. Its growth habit is both upright from the soil and hanging from cliffs or as epiphytes on trees. One of its relatives, Leather-Leaf Fern (Polypodium scouleri), occurs along the coast from Oregon south to Baja California. Leather-Leaf Fern can be distinguished by its leathery fronds and decidedly larger terminal pinnae (leaflets). All members of this genus have "naked" sori; that is, the clusters of spore cases (sporangia), called the sori, are not covered by a membranous flap (the indusium). Licorice Ferns are lovely in the garden but they are best seen, in my opinion, as the natural decoration on Big Leaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum) in western rainforests.