Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrine)Sweet fern is a small, aromatic, mound-shaped shrub that produces small brown flowers in spring before the leaves emerge, followed by nutlets in bur-like husks. It thrives in native plant gardens and naturalized areas, where it can spread and form colonies. An important larval host for many moths and the hoary edge butterfly, it also has fragrant leaves that have been used for tea or seasoning.
Native American groups historically used the leaves as a medicinal poultice.