Growing Sporadically In Eatonville

Day 26: The best word-play is that which occurs accidentally, the speaker blithely going on, oblivious to what they've said. Such was the case many years ago when I remarked to my husband during a drive that I was observing clusters of mushrooms growing sporadically alongside the road. Now I am a fan of Tom Swifties, but I uttered those words without the slightest thought to making a joke. Bruce cracked up, and it took me a couple of minutes to figure out why he was laughing. Since then, I've repeated it, waiting to see which of my friends will catch on, but it will never, ever be as good as that first time.

In any event, that's how the Licorice Ferns grow in Eatonville: sporadically, and mostly in association with Big-leaf Maple. I've included a pair of views through the microscope to show you how "sporadic" Polypodium glycyrrhiza is. In fact, the largest of the spores measures roughly 4.5μ by 6μ. The righthand photo in the inset includes the spore capsule as well as a few dozen spores.