.488 MYRICACEAE. 
2. Myrica cerifera L. Wax-myrtle. (Fig. 1160.) 
Myrica cerifera 1,. Sp. Pl. 1024. 1753. 
A slender dioecious tree, maximum height 
about 40°, trunk diameter 114°, the bark gray, 
nearly smooth. Leaves narrow, oblong or ob- 
lanceolate, mostly acute at the apex, entire or 
sparingly dentate, narrowed or somewhat cune- 
ate at the base, fragrant when crushed, short- 
petioled, dark green above, paler and sometimes 
pubescent beneath; golden-resinous, 1/—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 1// in di- 
ameter, tipped with the minute base of the 
style, long persistent, the bracts and bractlets 
deciduous. 
In sandy swamps or wet woods, Maryland to Flor- 
ida and Texas, north to Arkansas. March-April. 
Leaves mostly persistent through the winter. 
Wood light, brown; weight per cubic foot 35 lbs. 
3. Myrica Carolinénsis Mill. Waxberry. Bayberry. (Fig. 1161.) 
Myrica Carolinensis Mill. Gard. Dict. Ed. 8, no. 
2) e705: 
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’/-18’’ 
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//-9/’ 
long; pistillate aments short, oblong; ripe 
drupes separated, globose, bluish white, very 
waxy, 1’’-114’’ in diameter, long-persistent, the 
bracts and bractlets deciduous. 
In dry or moist sandy soil, Nova Scotia to Flor- 
ida and Alabama 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. fl. go. 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 J/yrica. 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-ob- 
long bony nut. [Name in honor of Rev. Henry Compton, 1632-1713, bishop of Oxford. ] 
A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 
