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| Photos
by Renee Brecht |
Britton and Brown. See
credits below. |
| Botanical name: |
Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coult. |
| Common
name: |
Sweet fern
|
| Synonomy: |
Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coult. var. aspleniifolia (L.) Fern.
Myrica
aspleniifolia L.
Myrica
aspleniifolia L. var. tomentosa
(Chev.) Gleason
Myrica
peregrina (L.) Kuntze
|
| Group: |
Dicot
|
| Family: |
Myricaceae
|
| Growth
Type: |
Subshrub, Shrub
|
| Duration: |
Perennial
|
| Plant
height: |
1-4.5'
|
| Foliage: |
Fragrant,
pubescent. Alternate, simple leaves, resembling fern (hence the name)
that are 2.5-4.7" long on red-brown to gray woody stems |
| Flower
color: |
brown
|
| Flower
size: |
Catkins clustered at the ends of
branches, 1.2-1.6" long. May be
monecious or dioecious.
|
| Flowering/fruiting time |
March-April |
| Habitat: |
Dry, sterile, sandy to rocky soils in
pinelands or pine barrens, clearings, or edges of woodlots
|
| Range in
New Jersey: |
|
| Heritage ranking if any: |
n/a
|
| Distribution |
 |
| Misc.: |
Sweetfern fruits are eaten by
flickers, white tailed deer, and it has limited use as food and cover
for cottontail rabbits and ruffed grouse.
Comptonia,
after Henry Compton, Bishop of London from 1632-1713, by Sir Josiah
Banks, peregrina, from the
Latin, "foreign"
A colonizer species, follows fire in open canopy.
Fire
Effects Information System (FEIS)
Eflora.org
reports that it has been variously used by "many Native American tribes used different parts of
Comptonia peregrina
variously: as an incense for ritual ceremonies; for medicinal purposes;
as a stimulant or tonic; as a food seasoning; and as a poison (D. A.
Moerman 1986)."
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