GENUS i. 



BAYBERRY FAMILY. 



55 



2. Myrica cerifera L. Wax-myrtle 



Myrica cerifera L. Sp. PL 1024. 1753. 



A slender tree, or a shrub, maximum height 

 about 40, trunk diameter ii, the bark gray, nearly 

 smooth. Leaves narrow, oblong or oblanceolate, 

 mostly acute at the apex, entire or sparingly den- 

 tate, narrowed or somewhat cuneate at the base, 

 fragrant when crushed, short-petioled, dark green 

 above, paler and sometimes pubescent beneath ; 

 golden-resinous, i'-3' long, 3 "-9" wide, unfolding 

 with or before the aments; staminate aments 

 cylindric; pistillate aments short, oblong; ripe 

 drupes separated, globose, bluish-white, waxy, less 

 than i" in diameter, tipped with the minute base 

 of the style, long-persistent, the bracts and bract- 

 lets deciduous. 



In sandy swamps or wet woods, southern New 

 Jersey to Florida and Texas, north to Arkansas. 

 Also in the West Indies. March-April. Leaves 

 mostly persistent through the winter. Wood light, 

 brown ; weight per cubic foot 35 Ibs. Waxberry. 

 Tallow-bayberry. Candleberry. Tallow-shrub. Sweet 

 oak. Candleberry-myrtle. 



Fig. 1436. 



3. Myrica carolinensis (Mill.). Small Waxberry. Bayberry. Fig. 1437. 



Myrica carolinensis Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 3. 

 1768. 



A shrub, 2-8 high, with smooth gray bark, 

 the twigs glabrous or often pubescent. Leaves 

 oblanceolate or obovate, glabrous above, often 

 pubescent beneath, resinous, 2-4' long, 6"-i8" 

 wide, serrate with a few low teeth above the 

 middle, or entire, obtuse or sometimes acute at 

 the apex, narrowed at the base, short -petioled; 

 staminate aments cylindric or oblong, 3"-o/' long; 

 pistillate aments short, oblong; ripe drupes sepa- 

 rated, globose, bluish white, very waxy, i"-!*" 

 in diameter, long-persistent, the bracts and bract- 

 lets deciduous. 



In dry or moist sandy soil, Nova Scotia to Flor- 

 ida and Louisiana and on the shores of Lake Erie. 

 Occurs also in bogs in northern New Jersey and 

 Pennsylvania. April-May. The fruit was much 

 used as a source of wax by the early settlers of the 

 eastern United States, and is still utilized along the 

 coast of New England. 



2. COMPTONIA Banks; Gaertn. Fr. & Sem. 2: 58. pi. 90. 1791. 



A low, monoecious or dioecious branching shrub with terete brown branches and nar- 

 row, deeply pinnatifid, stipulate leaves, the young foliage pubescent. Aments expanding 

 with the leaves, the staminate ones and their flowers as in Myrica, Fertile aments globose 

 ovoid, on monoecious plants appearing below the staminate, several-flowered. Ovary sub- 

 tended by 8 linear-subulate persistent bractlets, which form an involucre to the ovoid-oblong 

 bony nut'. [Name in honor of Rev. Henry Compton, 1632-1713, bishop of Oxford.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



