1922] Fernald,—Polypodium virginianum and P. vulgare 129 
P. falcatum and P. californicum, var. intermedium; at the same time 
calling “ P. falcatum, Kellogg (P. glycyrrhiza, Eaton), a Californian 
variety, with the pinnae finely toothed, and narrowed very gradually 
to an acute point. "! Very similarly, Diels states the range to include 
in America, at least by inference, only the western region: “südlich 
bis Makaronesien, Nordafrika, Vorderasien, Japan, Nordmexico.’”? 
From earliest times the European Polypodium vulgare has attracted 
the gatherers of medicinal herbs on account of its sweet roots. Gerarde 
in the 16th century, stated that the root “hath in it a certaine sweete- 
nes"? Parkinson, in the 17th, said it has “a certaine sweetish 
harshnesse in the taste,"! Morison, in the 18th, described it with 
' a "sweet taste (sapore dulci) ";* and Diels, in the 19th, said, “ Das 
Rhizom (‘Radix polypodii S. filiculae dulcis'—' Engelsiiss’) enthält 
Zucker."? In view of the many indications of specific identity be- 
tween the Polypodies of western America and the European P. 
vulgare it is not surprising, therefore, to find in Kellogg's original 
account of P. falcatum the statement that the rootstock has a “ sweet- 
ish liquorice flavor" ;? that D. C. Eaton, publishing the same species 
almost simultaneously gave it the name P. Glycyrrhiza, with “ Root- 
lets aerial, having a sweet flavor like that of liquorice";* that by Piper 
& Beattie it is called Licorice-root Fern because “The rootstocks 
taste much like licorice, and are eaten by children”; and that Maxon, 
in describing as a species of the western mountains P. hesperium, 
stated that, “It is doubtful whether hesperium is very closely related 
to the eastern vulgare. Its affinities seem rather to lie with the Poly- 
podiums of the Pacific coast, one especially notable feature which 
it possesses in common with them being the hard licorice-like root- 
stock. The rhizomes of the eastern vulgare, on the other hand, are 
not only spongy and quite acrid but more or less unsavory in taste. "!? 
The only character which I have thus far been able to discover, 
by which Polypodium californicum, P. falcatum and P. hesperium 
1 Hook. & Baker, Syn, Fil. 334 (1868). 
? Diels in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenf. i. Ab. 4: 311 (1899). 
3 Gerarde, Herball, 972 (1597). 
4 Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum, 1040 (1640). 
5 Morison, Pl. Hist. iii. 562 (1715). 
* Diels, Le (1899). 
7 Kellogg, Proc. Cal. Acad. i. 20 (1854). 
8 D. C. Eaton, Am. Journ. Sci. ser. 2, xxii. 138 (1856). 
? Piper & Beattie, Fl. N. W. Coast, 3 (1915). 
19 Maxon, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. xiii. 200 (1900). 
