Polypodium glycyrrhiza or Licorice Fern is a native in temperate west coast rainforests and low elevations from northern California to southern Alaska. Named Licorice Fern because of its sweetish, licorice-flavored rhizomes (fleshy horizontal underground stems). Sometimes epiphytic, growing on dense tree moss, this fern goes dormant in the summer in the Gardens when the air gets too dry.