Check out my YouTube video: Sweet Fern .
Sweet Fern (Comptonia peregrina) is an excellent survival resource. Great for when you aren’t feeling well, Sweet Fern helps with an upset stomach, headache and congestion. Make a mild tea and sweeten with honey if you desire. I think it’s pretty good as it is. 
It is, despite it’s name, not a Fern, rather it is a member of the Bayberry Family. It’s woody stem has a pine flavor, so I tend to make sure I use only the leaves.
The leaves produce a slight numbing effect and can help alleviate toothache pain until you can properly treat it. Packed with nutrition, as most edible wild plants are, a hot Sweet Fern tea can be a real boost on a cold day.
Burning the plants makes for a pleasant incense and even helps to repel mosquitoes. Native Americans also used it to line their baskets to help keep berries fresh.
Quite often found in the same areas Blueberries are found, many people associate the sweet aroma of Sweet Fern with Blueberries, though they are unrelated.
A very easy plant to identify, Sweet Fern is certainly one to become familiar with and add it to your survival plant list.
As with anything that you consume, make sure you are 100% certain you have identified it correctly before you use it.
