Description
We pretty much always find sweet gale growing along waterbodies in full sun to perhaps part shade. Although it can tolerate occasional flooding, we usually don’t see growing in the water, but rather just above it, comfortably perched on the shoreline. On the lake and river shores here in Maine, it makes up the first layer of buffering defense coming off the water, moving upland. It is an important but often minor player in terms of abundance; there’s a lot of competition at this crucial transition area between the water and the land and sweet gale seems to gracefully acknowledge this limited space and isn’t bullish about taking more than it’s fair share, growing 3 to 4 feet wide and about as tall. As the name hints, the leaves have a signature minty sweet aroma when crushed in you hands, very similar to its cousin sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina), which is in the same family. The leaves have a distinctive shade of green and an attractive outline. The roots house nitrogen fixing bacteria, as we see with several lake shore dwelling plants. Like so many of out native wetland shrubs, this species also adapts nicely to “life on the land” and will grow in upland areas. In a bold effort, we where even able to establish a few plants along the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, unexpectedly nearby to another relative, waxberry (Myrica pensylvanica).
