''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. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

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 specie ...

. 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 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 one of the thirtee ...

, 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 Eng ...

, 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 the ...

, 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 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. 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 t ...

), 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, aft ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

, growing to tall. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

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 is conne ...

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 reproductio ...

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 mechani ...

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, the ...

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 John Merle Coulter, Ph. D. (November 20, 1851 – December 23, 1928) was an American botanist and educator. In his career in education administration, Coulter is notable for serving as the president of Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Univ ...

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 all ...

. ''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 Ca ...

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 Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

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. The ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

species, including '' Bucculatrix paroptila'',

grey pug The grey pug (''Eupithecia subfuscata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region. It is also found in North America. Since it does not place any special demands on climatic conditions, special caterpilla ...

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 hav ...

'' 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 Actinorhizal plants are a group of angiosperms characterized by their ability to form a symbiosis with the nitrogen fixing actinomycetota ''Frankia''. This association leads to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. Classification Actinorh ...

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