SWEET FERN 



the early days o[ the settlement of this country this 

 wax had a commercial value. 



In the renaming of plants according to the rules of 

 the American Association of Science, the Bayberry 

 has lost its specific name of cerifcra and gained that of 

 carolincnsis ; cerifcra is now given to a southern tree, 

 the Wax Myrtle. 



SWEET FERN 



Comptbnia percgrina. Myrica asplenifblia, 



Compfonia, in honor of Rev. Henry Compton, bishop of 

 Oxford. 



Fragrant, round-headed, about two feet high, growing on 

 hillsides and in the openings of woods. Ranges from New 

 Brunswick to the Saskatchewan, occurs abundantly throughout 

 New England and the Middle States and on the Appalachian 

 range. Roots long, creeping ; suckers freely. 



Bark. — Young stems green or yellowish or reddish l)rown and 

 sprinkled with tiny resinous dots ; the older stems yellowish 

 brown with shining surface, somewhat hairy ; oldest are reddish 

 purple or coppery brown. 



IVinfcr buds. — Leaf buds minute, globular, hairy. Pistillate 

 aments crowded at the summit of the stems, stiff, erect, one- 

 fourth of an inch long, cylindrical, pale brown, hairy. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, fragrant, three to six inches long, 

 less than an inch wide, pointed, cut into obtuse or j^ointed lobes 

 by sinuses reaching to the midrib, margin of these lobes entire, 

 somewhat reflexed. They come out of the bud conduplicate, 

 l)ale green ; when full grown they are dark lustrous green ; mid- 

 rib depressed above, i)rominently ridged and ])ubescent beneath, 

 secondary veins small ])ut also ridged. IVtiolcs short; stipules 

 half an inch long, auriculate or half heart-shaped, often with 

 a pair of smaller stipules below. I, caves, jictiolcs and stii)ules 

 densely sprinkled with minute, yellow shining resinous dots. 



443 



