Index / Search / Comptonia peregrina

§1 Plant

Comptonia peregrina (L.) J.M. Coult.

vernacular sweet fern — species · Myricaceae


USDA
COPE80
GBIF
5414197
Rank
species
sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina)
Platephotograph · Mark KlugeCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§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

· 379 counties across 23 states/territories
Legend Native · 379 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§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 379 counties across 23 states/territories.

Delaware view state ↗ 2 N
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N
Georgia view state ↗ 3 N
Illinois view state ↗ 6 N
Indiana view state ↗ 7 N
Kentucky view state ↗ 4 N
Maine view state ↗ 14 N
Massachusetts view state ↗ 14 N
Michigan view state ↗ 55 N
Minnesota view state ↗ 12 N
New Hampshire view state ↗ 10 N
New Jersey view state ↗ 17 N
New York view state ↗ 42 N
North Carolina view state ↗ 19 N
Ohio view state ↗ 12 N
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 56 N
Rhode Island view state ↗ 5 N
South Carolina view state ↗ 2 N
Tennessee view state ↗ 2 N
Vermont view state ↗ 10 N
Virginia view state ↗ 39 N
West Virginia view state ↗ 6 N
Wisconsin view state ↗ 41 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-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T09:28:40Z