Licorice Fern Research Paper

The coastal temperate rainforest is a 2,500 mile long narrow rainforest that borders the west of North America. It is the largest coastal temperate rain forest in the world. It receives an annual precipitation of 33-105 inches of rain. with 350 bird and mammal species, 48 species of amphibians and reptiles, 25 tree species, hundred species of fungi and lichens, and thousand species of mites, insects, spiders, and other soil organisms the rainforest is rich in biodiversity. One of the species that lives in this habitat is the Polypodium glycyrrhia more commonly known as a licorice fern. This evergreen fern gets its name from its licorice-flavored rhizome. The species lives in lowlands with elevations below 600 meters and thrives in a humid

The reason the ferns are able to do this is because they are short enough to get covered in snow yet still survive. This adaptation came to be when the much larger and taller licorice fern died during the winter leaving the smaller more compact ones to survive.

4.Another adaptation of the licorice fern is the ability to thrive in low light, since it is a short plant there are many trees that cover it, blocking sunlight. The ferns that needed more sunlight to survive but were unable to access it would die off, leaving ferns with the advantage of tolerating a smaller amount of light and passing those adaptations down.

5.An important adaptation is the ability to survive a short period of drought, this is made possible by the plants ability to evenly provide itself nutrients. Although it does live in a rainforest, Washington can lack water during June and September causing the ferns with the inability to survive during a drought to

Its order is Polypodiales, its characterized by sporangia with a vertical annulus stopped by the stalk and stomium. Licorice Fern are placed into the family Polypodiaceae, meaning they contain sporophytes that have creeping rhizomes that sometimes produce pinnate leaves. The rhizome and leaf axis have multiple vascular bundles arranged in a circular pattern. Another distinctive feature of the Family are small, lens-shaped sporangia that create continuous sori. Its genus is Polypodium, comprised of epiphytic ferns with creeping rhizomes also meaning “many feet” for the rhizomes, and finally, the Species Polypodium glycyrrhiza, which in English literally means “fern having rootstock of a sweetish flavor”. So what makes it different from Polypodium amorphum is its flavored rhizome. The species separated because of the different adaptations in the rhizomes and the creation of the rhizome completely compared to the older species that it branched of from such as the Saccoloma species.

Polypodium glycyrrhizas Domain is Eukarya, its put into this category because they contain nuclear envelope and membrane-enclosed organelles in its individual cell. Its Kingdom is Plantae because of its definitive plastid developed from primary endosymbiosis. Its Phylum is Pteridophyta, Pteridophyta means "feathered plant". It fits into this category because it is defined as a fern. Its