Comptonia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales, native to parts of eastern North America. It is monotypic among living plants, containing a single extant species, sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina), alongside a number of now-extinct fossil species.
The genus was established by the French botanist Charles Louis L'Héritier in 1789, based on Linnaeus's Myrica aspleniifolia, and honors Rev. Henry Compton (1632–1713), Bishop of Oxford and a notable patron of botany. The taxonomic history of the living species is tangled: Linnaeus first described it in 1753 as Liquidambar peregrina, then separately described a plant he called Myrica aspleniifolia in the same work, later moving that second name to Liquidambar as well. It was not until 1894 that the botanist John M. Coulter transferred Liquidambar peregrina into Comptonia and treated Myrica aspleniifolia as its synonym, fixing Comptonia peregrina as the genus's sole living representative.
Like other members of Myricaceae, Comptonia is an actinorhizal plant: it forms a symbiosis with the nitrogen-fixing actinomycete bacterium Frankia, which colonizes its roots and induces the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. This adaptation allows it to thrive in nutrient-poor, sandy, or disturbed soils typical of its eastern North American range.
Etymology
The genus Comptonia was named by Charles Louis L'Héritier in 1789 in honor of Rev. Henry Compton (1632–1713), Bishop of Oxford.
Distribution
Comptonia is native to parts of eastern North America.
Taxonomy Notes
The sole living species, now Comptonia peregrina, was originally described by Linnaeus in 1753 as Liquidambar peregrina; a related name, Myrica aspleniifolia (also Linnaeus, 1753, later moved by him to Liquidambar), was eventually treated as its synonym. Charles Louis L'Héritier erected Comptonia in 1789, and John M. Coulter transferred the living species into the genus in 1894, leaving it as the only extant member (GBIF lists 3 accepted taxa total, including fossil/infraspecific entries).
