Comptonia peregrina; sweet-fern [Myricaceae]  Small, native, deciduous shrub with linear-to-lanceolate fern-like leaves.  Spreads from rhizomes to form low (2-4’ tall) colonies in open areas on dry sandy or gravelly soils.  Leaves alternate, pinnately lobed, and fragrant, with a distinctive sweet, spicy aroma.  Staminate catkins appear before the leaves in early spring at the tips of branches.  Pistillate flowers develop into small bur-like fruits in mid-summer.  Common on poor soils throughout central and northern Wisconsin.  [084]