Index / Search / Comptonia peregrina
§1 Plant
Comptonia peregrina (L.) J.M. Coult.
vernacular sweet fern — species · Myricaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Subshrub
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Myricaceae Rich. ex Kunth
- Genus
- Comptonia
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 5 counties across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Low
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -38 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 100 min.
- Precipitation
- 30–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4–7
- Root depth
- 14 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Height @ 20 y
- 2 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- Low
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- None
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 30,000
- Propagation
- cuttings, bare root, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Medium
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 5 counties across 1 state.
Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/COPE80 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5414197 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z