Licorice Fern

If you go out in the woods today, you're in for a big surprise: Licorice ferns are having a picnic. These hardy ferns thrive at this time of year. I'm calling them Christmas ferns. I realize that ferns are not conifers. The licorice fern does not even associate with conifers. It does grow on trees, but avoids conifers. Its favorite place to grow is on the bigleaf maple trees, not even a distant cousin of conifers. However, this fern is such a fascinating native of our local forests that it deserves some special mention here, particularly at this time of year.

Unlike most of our native ferns, which thrive in the spring and summer and die down in the winter, the licorice fern thrives at this time of year when the winter rains come. You can see it growing on the trunks and limbs of bigleaf maples. Besides growing on maples, on occasion, it grows on other trees, for example red alder and Oregon white oak. It often appears in the ground next to the trees where it grows. It also grows on logs and rocks, sometimes rocks in the middle of streams. But there is one thing all these tree and rock locations have in common: They are all covered in lush mats of moss. This is what explains the unconventional life-style of the licorice fern. The ferns anchor to the tree with roots growing in a layer of soil-like dead moss. The ferns obtain nutrients from this soil. Most importantly, the moss acts as a sponge, collecting rain water that is essential to the ferns. 

When the moss dries out in the summer, the ferns dry up, too. A summer rain will bring the dried ferns back to life. However, if the dry period lasts too long, the fronds of the ferns will die and fall off. When rain returns, the ferns sprout new fronds from the roots in the moss and grow throughout the wet winter, as long as temperatures stay above freezing. This out-of-phase growth pattern has prompted some to describe licorice fern as “summer-deciduous.”

The unusual growth habit of licorice fern may also explain why it grows on maple trees and not conifers. Although it is moderately shade-tolerant, licorice fern does need sunlight. And since the fern grows in the winter, it needs sunlight at that time of year. But most conifers keep their leaves in the winter. When the deciduous maples lose their leaves in the fall, plenty of winter sun can reach the ferns growing on them. However, the dark understory below conifers is not a friendly place for licorice ferns.

Spores

Identification: The easiest way to identify licorice fern is to look for moss growing on a bigleaf maple. If there are ferns growing in it, they are licorice ferns. Conversely, in winter after the leaves have fallen, the easiest way to identify bigleaf maple is to look for licorice ferns. They are likely to be growing on a bigleaf maple, although there’s a chance it could be an alder or oak… or a rock. You can also identify licorice fern by its unique characteristics. It grows on stems that are light green or straw colored, not black like oak fern or some deer fern. A single, non-branching stem grows from each location, while many other ferns have multiple fronds growing from one central location. The leaflets on opposite sides of the stem are staggered rather than directly opposed. Where each leaflet attaches to the stem, it spreads to the next leaflet, rather than attaching at a point like sword fern.

Licorice fern root

Names: The scientific name of licorice fern is Polypodium glycyrrhiza. The genus name, Polypodium, means many-footed, a reference to the way the stems attach along the root or rhizome. If you look inside the moss where the ferns are growing, you will discover the stems attached to a rhizome that is about the diameter of a pencil. I don’t know the Latin for many legged, but that might better describe these ferns, which have multiple stems attached along one root (foot). The species name, glycyrrhiza, comes from Greek and means sweet root. 

Why is this fern called “licorice fern?” If you taste a piece of the root, you may find that it tastes like licorice. It definitely has an interesting, sweet taste. Native Americans chewed the roots and used them to sweeten other foods. They also used them to treat a cough and other illnesses.

Fungus growing in moss

Finally, here’s one more fascinating detail about this mossy-fern ecosystem. Living in a symbiotic relationship with the licorice fern roots, mycorrhizal fungi perform the same task as those found living with the roots of conifers. They help gather water and nutrients. In return the fern supplies the fungi with the sugars it makes through photosynthesis. It’s a microcosm of the larger forest ecosystem.

Pay special attention to these hardy denizens of winter when you hike in the woods. Another apt name for licorice fern would be winter fern, or even Christmas fern.




See also
Licorice fern in Wikipedia
Licorice fern at Portland Nursery
Bigleaf maple

Lichens

A lichen is not a thing. That is, it is not a single organism. It is a living partnership between two kinds of organisms: fungi and algae. Lichens grow on rocks, tree bark and other solid surfaces. They get the water and minerals they need from the atmosphere and make their own food using photosynthesis. They may appear plant-like, but they are not plants. They can have crusty, leafy, branching or other growth forms and come in various colors and sizes. 

Lichen and moss

The mutually beneficial relationship between the fungi and algae in lichens is called a symbiotic relationship. In fact, the word "symbiosis" was coined by scientists to describe this relationship in lichens. Filaments of the fungi provide the structure for the composite organisms. They also collect and store water and nutrients. The algae live between the filaments, near the surface where they can collect the sun’s energy for photosynthesis. These tiny solar cells convert the solar energy to sugars used by the fungus.

Common Lichen Growth Forms
There are over 15,000 species of lichen worldwide and 1000 in the Pacific Northwest, so learning to identify them may seem like a daunting challenge. A more realistic approach might be to distinguish these common growth forms: 

Crustose – A crust on a rock or other surface. 

Fruticose – A tuft of tiny, leafless branches.

Foliose – Flat leaf-like structures.

Leprose – Looks like a powder. 

Scientists once thought that a lichen was a single species of fungus living with a single species of alga. They recently discovered that there can be two or more species of each living together, forming a tiny ecosystem with different organisms performing different functions. 

As I was reading about lichens, it seemed to me that there is a basic problem with the classification of lichen species, even when it is a single fungus and alga living together. A lichen isn’t a single species. It is at least two species living together. Taxonomists have had neat little species boxes that they put all living things into, but, as it turns out, lichens don't fit in these boxes. It looks like we need a different way to classify lichens. Further reading revealed that by convention, lichens are classified as species using the species name of the fungus. However, this is not without problems. A fungus may pair with different algae, and the results can produce quite distinctive forms that would merit classification as different species. Furthermore, some lichens include two species of fungus. Oops! It appears that we need a different kind of box for lichen classification. This is a hot topic among lichenologists.

All this diversity of different fungi and algae living together is what makes lichens particularly hardy, enabling them to populate the entire planet, living where nothing else can, surviving icy cold mountains and hot, dry deserts. They are sometimes the only living thing that can survive in these extreme environments. They are often the first living things to grow after a disaster has destroyed other life forms.

Given a place to grow, sunlight, and water, lichens seemingly live independently in their own little world. However, they play many important roles in the larger ecosystems where they live. Some lichens are an important food source for animals, for example, reindeer. Northern flying squirrels eat lichen in winter and use it as a nesting material. Hummingbirds also use lichen in their nests. In the distant past, lichen has been an important human food in both Europe and North America.

I'm often asked whether or not lichen growing on trees harms the trees. I wasn't sure but I thought that it didn't. Understanding how lichens function in the ecosystem enables us to give a more definitive answer to that question. Lichens do not have roots. They are not parasitic like mistletoe, and do not rob nutrients from their host tree.

Lettuce Lichen (BLM photo)

There is at least one lichen that benefits the trees where it lives. One nutrient that all plants need to grow and thrive is nitrogen. In a young forest nitrogen is supplied by nitrogen fixing plants, for example, red alder trees, shrubs like red currant or deer brush, and other species in the Ribes and Ceanothus genera. These shrubs and trees have nodules of bacteria on their roots that convert the nitrogen in the air to a form that can be used by plants. However, the shrubs and alder are only present in a young forest. As the conifers grow and shade out the shrubbery and even the alders, these nitrogen fixers are unable to compete. For a long time scientists wondered where an old growth forest gets its nitrogen. Then in 1970, scientists at the Andrews Experimental Forest east of Eugene, Oregon, discovered that a lichen that grows in the canopy of an old growth forest is a rich source of nitrogen. This lichen is called lettuce lichen (Lobaria oregana). It grows only in the canopy of mature forests and fixes up to 22 pounds of nitrogen per acre in a year. Some of this nitrogen is used by bacteria and fungus-eating animals. Some of the lettuce lichen falls to the forest floor where the nitrogen is taken up by trees. The iconic Douglas firs of the Northwest could not grow to their immense size without the benefit of lettuce lichen.

Finally, another fascinating characteristic of lichens: Since they get their nourishment from the air, they also absorb any pollutants in the air. Some lichen species are sensitive to air pollutants and will be damaged or even die if air pollution levels are too high. It is possible to determine air quality by looking for the presence and at the quality of these sensitive species. Scientists also gather lichen and moss samples and use them to measure air pollutants. This is how they recently discovered high levels of cadmium and arsenic in the air near two artistic glass factories in Portland.

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More info

A Field Guide to the Lichen of Opal Creek

How a Guy From a Montana Trailer Park Overturned 150 Years of Biology

How Tree Moss Could Revolutionize What We Know About Air Pollution

Lichen (Wikipedia)

The Hidden Forest by Jon Luoma, Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR

Deciduous Conifers

Most conifers are evergreen. When fall comes and we venture out looking for beautiful fall

colors, we are looking for maples and other flowering trees, not conifers. However, not all conifers are evergreen. Some are deciduous. That is, the needles lose their green color each fall in a burst of golden color and then fall to the ground.

Japanese Larch

Larches

Larch Needles

The most widespread deciduous conifers are the larches. Ten species of larch grow across the northern continents. Two species of larch grow in the Pacific Northwest: Western larch and alpine larch. Larches have two kinds of branchlets: Long shoots with needles spread along the shoot, and short shoots with needles at the end in bundles of about 25. Cones usually grow on short shoots, too. Some of the cones have long bracts that protrude beyond the scales, while short bracts are hidden in the scales. Larches are closely related to Douglas fir.

Western Larch

Alpine larch - Larix lyallii. Native to the North Cascades and Rocky Mts.  
Chinese larch‎ - Larix potaninii. Native to Himalayas. Used for construction.
Dahurian larch - Larix gmelinii. Native to E. Russia, Mongolia, and NE China.
Eastern larch - Larix laricina. Native to NE US, Canada, and south central Alaska.

European larch - Larix decidua. Important timber tree.

Japanese larch‎ - Larix kaempferi. Popular bonsai. Important timber tree.

Masters larch - Larix mastersiana. Native to China.

Siberian larch - Larix sibirica. Wood similar to European larch.

Sikkim larch -  Larix griffithii. Native to eastern Himalayas. Used for construction.
Western larch - Larix occidentalis. Native to the Pacific Northwest. In the Cascades, Western Larch grows mostly on the east side at elevations up to 6000 feet. Important timber tree. The wood is similar in strength to Douglas fir.
Other Deciduous Conifers

Dawn Redwood

Dawn redwood - Metasequoia glyptostroboides. Fossils of this tree are common in North  America (including the John Day Fossil Beds in Oregon), but it was thought to be extinct. Yet it was found alive in China in the 1940’s. It’s now a popular ornamental.

Bald cypress - Taxodium distichum. This native of southeast USA is an important timber tree, and a popular ornamental in the Pacific Northwest. The needles look similar to the dawn redwood, but don't grow in opposing pairs like those on the dawn redwood.

Golden larch - Pseudolarix amabilis. This is the only species in the genus Pseudolarix. As the scientific name implies, it is not a true larch (Larix), being more closely related to firs and cedars (Abies and Cedrus). Like these trees, the cones of golden larch sit upright and disintegrate when they disperse their seeds. It is native to eastern China.

Chinese swamp cypress - Glyptostrobus pensilis. This is the only living species in the genus Glyptostrobus. It’s native to southeastern China and northern Vietnam. When the dawn redwood was first discovered, it was placed in this genus, but then classified as Metasequoia. The species name of the dawn redwood, glyptostroboides, recognizes the earlier classification.

Maidenhair tree - Ginkgo biloba. Although not a conifer, the maidenhair tree is a deciduous tree closely related to the conifers. It's very ancient, dating back to nearly 300 million years ago. I call it an uncle of the conifers. Its fall colors are strikingly bright.

Ginkgo

To tour the deciduous conifers at Hoyt Arboretum in Portland, click here for a map.

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More info
Larches
Native larches

Dawn redwood

Bald cypress
Golden larch
Chinese swamp cypress

Ken Denniston

November 2017