Polypodium glycyrrhiza

Common Names

Licorice Fern, Many-Footed Fern, Sweet Root

Summary

Licorice fern (Polypodium glycyrrhiza) is an evergreen fern native to the Pacific Northwest of western North America, typically growing epiphytically on bigleaf maple trunks or terrestrially on mossy logs, rocks, and moist ground, with long creeping rhizomes bearing a licorice-flavored rhizome. Fronds are 10–60 cm long and 2–15 cm wide, once-pinnate with finely toothed margins, and the plant forms arching mats or clumps with naked sori on the undersides.

In cultivation it prefers filtered to partial shade with consistently moist, well-drained soils, and tolerates a wide range of soils and pH as long as moisture is present. It can be grown as ground cover or as an epiphyte on trunks and rocks, and propagation occurs by spores or by rhizome division; it is pest- and disease-resistant and rarely browsed by deer. Uses include shady garden beds, woodland margins, rock gardens, and containers, with evergreen foliage providing winter interest in landscape plantings.

Lifecycle

Perennial

Height

4-16 inches

Spread

16-20 inches

Hardiness Zones

Zones 4-9

Sunlight Requirements

Ideally Partial Shade to Full Shade.

Soil Type

Humus-rich, well-drained, moist, slightly acidic soil.

Soil Drainage

Well-drained, porous soil

Soil pH

Neutral to lightly alkaline soils

Bloom Time

Does not bloom; spores released Sep–Oct.

Foliage Color

Green

Fall Foliage Color

Green

Leaf Lifecycle

Deciduous

Growth Rate

Moderate

Seasons of Interest

Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter

Propagation Methods

Spores, Cuttings, Division

Attracts Wildlife

Bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, other pollinators: No, Birds: Yes, to some extent