Sweet Fern
Parts Usually Used
The whole herb, mainly the leaves
Description of Plant(s) and Culture
Sweet fern is a strongly aromatic, fernlike deciduous shrub; its slender, reddish-brown branches grow up to 5 feet high and bear alternate, short-petioled, linear-oblong leaves that are deeply pinnatifid with lobes that are broader than they are long. The leaves are soft-hairy, lance shaped; 3-6 inches long with prominent rounded teeth. Male flowers grow in cylindrical catkins, female in egg-shaped catkins that develop into clusters of brown, shining, ovoid, burrlike, nutlets.
Where Found
Found on dry hills from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, Georgia mountains; Ohio, Nebraska, Illinois to Minnesota, Manitoba. Grows in infertile soils near shores, but it is also a common weedy shrub of dry roadsides, gravel banks, and woodland clearings.
Medicinal Properties
Astringent, tonic
Legends, Myths and Stories
Sweet fern is not actually a fern; rather, it is a member of the Bayberry family. The flowers are not showy, and the fruits resemble small, slender cones. For the species C. peregrina, the name peregrina means “foreign”. This is a misnomer from an American perspective: although the plant was foreign to the European botanist who first named it, it is native to North America. Some references refer to sweet fern as belonging to the Wax-myrtle family, but Webster’s Dictionary clearly states it belongs to the Bayberry family.
Native Americans used the leaves in smudge fires, and lined their baskets with them when gathering highly perishable berries. In 1854, Howard wrote that the leaves make a very pleasant tea, with the addition of cream and sugar, children rarely refused it.
Uses
Historically, herbalists primarily employed this plant in attempts to address diarrhea and various skin complaints. Native American traditions utilized leaf infusions as an external wash for poison ivy irritation, as well as preparations intended to check bleeding, and topical decoctions for bruises and rheumatism. They were also recorded as using the plant both as a beverage and as a poison.
In broader folk tradition, it was likewise noted as a remedy for rheumatism.
Bibliography
American Folk Medicine , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, 1973 Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants , by Steven Foster and James A. , Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10000 The Herbalist Almanac , by Clarence Meyer, Meyerbooks, publisher, PO Box 427, Glenwood, Illinois 60425, copyright 1988, fifth printing, 1994 The Herb Book , by John Lust, Bantam Books, 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
copyright 1974. , 15 Columbus Circle, New York, NY 10023 The Rodale Herb Book: How to Use, Grow, and Buy Nature’s Miracle Plants (An Organic gardening and farming book) , edited by William H. Hylton, Rodale Press, Inc. , 1974