''Comptonia peregrina'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the family

Myricaceae The Myricaceae are a small family of dicotyledonous shrubs and small trees in the order Fagales. There are three genera in the family, although some botanists separate many species from ''Myrica'' into a fourth genus ''Morella''. About 55 spe ...

. It is the only extant (living) species in the genus '' Comptonia'', although a number of extinct species are placed in the genus. ''Comptonia peregrina'' is native to eastern North America, from southern

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, east to

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

, south to the extreme north of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

, and west to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

. The common name is sweetfern or sweet-fern (although it is not a

fern A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes except ...

), or in Quebec, .

Etymology

The genus ''Comptonia'' is named in honor of Rev. Henry Compton (1632-1713), bishop of Oxford. The species name ''peregrina'' literally means ''one that travels''. Compare the plant's Quebec French name, ''comptonie voyageuse'': "traveling comptonia."

Description

''Comptonia peregrina'' is a

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

shrub, growing to tall. The leaves of the plant are linear to lanceolate, long and broad, with a lobed margin; they give off a sweet odor, especially when crushed. Plants are

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy i ...

with separate

unisexual Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproducti ...

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

s. The staminate flowers grow in clusters at the ends of branches, and are up to long. The pistillate flowers are only , but elongate when the fruits form, reaching .

Taxonomy

The species was first described, as ''Liquidambar peregrina'', by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, ...

in 1753, in the second volume of ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

''. Further on in the same volume, he described ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' as a different species (with the epithet spelt ''asplenifolia''). In 1763, he changed his mind concerning ''Myrica aspleniifolia'', and it became ''Liquidambar aspleniifolia'', and so in the same genus as ''Liquidambar peregrina''. In 1789, Charles Louis L'Héritier placed Linnaeus's original ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' in his new genus ''Comptonia''. In 1894, John M. Coulter transferred Linnaeus's ''Liquidambar peregrina'' to ''Comptonia'', and treated Linnaeus's ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are al ...

. ''Comptonia peregrina'' is now the only extant (living) species in the genus.

Distribution and habitat

''Comptonia peregrina'' is native to eastern North America, from

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

and

in the north, east to

, to

in the south, and west to

. It tends to grow on dry sandy sites, and is associated with

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

stands.

Ecology

''Comptonia peregrina'' is used as a food plant by the

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

e of some Lepidoptera species, including '' Bucculatrix paroptila'', grey pug,

setaceous Hebrew character The setaceous Hebrew character (''Xestia c-nigrum'') is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is found in the Palearctic realm. It is a common specie ...

, Io moth, and several ''

Coleophora ''Coleophora'' is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions. Many authors h ...

'' case-bearers: '' C. comptoniella'', '' C. peregrinaevorella'' (which feeds exclusively on ''Comptonia''), '' C. persimplexella'', '' C. pruniella'' and '' C. serratella''. It is also a non-legume nitrogen fixer.

Uses and consumption

The plant produces a bristly burr that contains 1 to 4 edible nutlets. The aromatic leaves (fresh or dried) are also used to make a tea. The Canadian author

Catharine Parr Traill Catharine Parr Traill (born Strickland; 9 January 1802 – 29 August 1899) was an English-Canadian author and naturalist who wrote about life in Canada, particularly what is now Ontario (then the colony of Upper Canada). In the 1830s, Canada ...

includes it in her book ''The Female Emigrant's Guide'' in a list of substitutes for China tea. "When boiled," she notes, "it has a slightly resinous taste, with a bitter flavour, that is not very unpleasant." Mistaking it, like others, for a fern, she says that it is in high repute "among the Yankee and old Canadian housewifes (sic)." Tea made from the plant has been said to treat the effects of poison ivy when applied to the affected area. The plant has also been used as a seasoning.

Notes

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile for ''Comptonia peregrina'' (sweet fern)Flora of North America: ''Comptonia peregrina''
* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q929465, from2=Q21976166, from3=Q21977546 Myricaceae Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the North-Central United States Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Taxa named by John Merle Coulter Plants described in 1753 Flora without expected TNC conservation status