OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fagales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Comptonia peregrina   FAMILY Myricaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Comptonia peregrina   FAMILY Myricaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)

Comptonia peregrina

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America

Comptonia peregrina

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 052-01-001:

Comptonia peregrina   FAMILY Myricaceae

INCLUDING Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)

Myrica asplenifolia var. asplenifolia

INCLUDING Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)

Myrica asplenifolia var. tomentosa

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Comptonia peregrina

 

COMMON NAME:
Sweet-fern


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

USDA Forest Service / A Guide to Medicinal Plants of Appalachia. 1969    mpa_page_103

        

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_cope80_001_lvd

        

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm110402_350

April    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

Male flower clusters cylindrical and about 1.25" long, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm110402_350b

April    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

Flowers without sepals or petals, per Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001).

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_c_peregrina_sweetfern

April        

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm080705_167

July    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

Leaves spicy-scented when crushed, per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm090923_017

September    Hancock County    ME

Leaves narrow with deep marginal indentations (pinnatifid), per Woody Plants of the Blue Ridge (Lance).

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm090923_019

September    Hancock County    ME

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm0411a_18

November    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

image of Comptonia peregrina, Sweet-fern

JK Marlow    jkm0511b_24

November    Haywood County    NC

Corneille Bryan Native Garden

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Comptonia peregrina   FAMILY Myricaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Comptonia peregrina   FAMILY Myricaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Comptonia peregrina

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Comptonia peregrina

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 052-01-001:
Comptonia peregrina   FAMILY Myricaceae

INCLUDING Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Myrica asplenifolia var. asplenifolia

INCLUDING Britton & Brown Illus Flora of Northeast US & adjacent Canada (Gleason, 1952)
Myrica asplenifolia var. tomentosa

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Comptonia peregrina

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

360

Shrub
Perennial
Dioecious

Habitat: Dry open woods and barrens, in the mountains on xeric ridges at low to medium elevations, usually in fire-maintained habitats, also in xeric and fire-maintained habitats on monadnocks in the upper Piedmont and in dry, sandy sites in the lower Piedmont and fall-line sandhills, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Uncommon in NC Mountains (rare elsewhere in GA-NC-SC)

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

LEAVES:
Deciduous
Simple: pinnatifid
Alternate

FLOWER:
Spring
Sepals absent
Petals absent
Unisexual

Flowers in catkins

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Brown
Nutlet

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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