508 



MYRICACEAE 



Family 26. MYRICACEAE. 



Bayberry Family. 

 Trees or shrubs with simple alternate deciduous or evergreen leaves, without 

 stipules. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, in short aments borne in the axils 

 of the leaves of the same year. Perianth none. Staminate flowers with 2-16, 

 usually 4-8 stamens, with short distinct or united fllaments and ovate 2-celled 

 anthers, dehiscent by a longitudinal slit. Pistillate flowers with a solitary, 1- 

 celled ovary, subtended by 2-8 bractlets ; ovule 1, orthotropus ; styles 2, linear. 

 Fruit a small oblong drupe or nut, the exocarp often waxy. Seed erect; endo- 

 sperm none. 



A family of two genera with about 40 species, widely distributed through the temperate and tropical 

 regions. 



1. MYRICA L. Sp. PI. 1024. 1753. 



Small trees or shrubs with entire dentate or lobed, usually resinous dotted deciduous or 

 evero-reen leaves. Staminate aments oblong or narrowly cyHndrical ; stamens 4-16. Pistillate 

 aments avoid or subglobose ; ovary subtended by 2-4 short bractlets. [Ancient name of the 



Tamarisk.] 



About 30 species, widely distributed through the temperate and tropical regions. Type species, Myrica 



gale L. 



Flowers dioecious; leaves appearing after the flowers, deciduous. . . .• , .1 ^ 



Leaves sometimes puberulent below, otherwise glabrous; cuneate at base to the very short petiole; nutlet 



waxy coated. . . . : a ' ^ \ ^l <o 



Leaves more or less pubescent, at least on the margins, attenuate at base to a slender petiole 6-1^ mm. 



long; nutlets not wavy coated. 

 Flowers monoecious; leaves evergreen. 



1. Myrica gale L. Sweet Gale. Fig. 1236. 



Myrica gale L. Sp. PI. 1024. 1753. 



A low shrub, 5-15 dm. high, with dark brown 

 glabrous branches. Leaves deciduous, appearing 

 after the flowers, serrate toward the obtuse apex, 

 narrowed to a cuneate subsessile base, firm in 

 texture, dark green and glabrous above, pale and 

 puberulent or glabrous below, 25-60 mm. long, 

 12-16 mm. wide ; staminate aments linear-oblong, 

 12-18 mm. long, crowded ; pistillate aments ovoid- 

 oblong, 8 mm. long in fruit; nutlet waxy coated, 

 scarcely equalling the persistent bractlets which 

 are adnate to its base and clasping. 



In low moist situations, Humid Transition and Cana- 

 dian Zones; Alaska to Labrador, south to the mountains of 

 Washington, Michigan and Virginia; also in Eurasia. 

 Type locality: Europe. 



2. M. hartwegi. 



3. M. californira- 



2. Myrica hartwegi S. Wats. 

 Sierra Bay. Fig. 1237. 



Myrica hartzvegi S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 10: 

 350. 1875. 



A low shrub 1.5-2 m. high, with pu- 

 bescent twigs becoming glabrous and dark 

 red-brown, marked with small oval lenti- 

 cels in the second or third year. Leaves 

 deciduous, appearing after the flowers, 

 broadly oblanceolate, 4-8 cm. long, coarse- 

 ly serrate toward the acute or obtuse 

 apex, attenuate at base to a slender peti- 

 ole 6-12 mm. long, thin, light green and 

 minutely pubescent or glabrate above, paler 

 below and permanently pubescent especi- 

 ally on the margins and midvein ; stamin- 

 ate aments cylindric, 12-18 mm. long; 

 bracts glabrous, light brown ; pistillate 

 aments subglobose, about 8 mm. long in fruit ; nutlets smooth or with scattered resinous 

 globules, 2 mm. long, compressed and winged by the thickened, acute bractlets. 



A restricted species inhabiting stream banks on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada iS the Lower 

 Transition Zone; Yuba to Fresno Counties. Type locality: probably on the San Joaquin River. 



