OF NORTH AMERICA. MYRICACES. 
84 SILVA 
The species of Myrica, of which about thirty are known, are shrubs or small trees, and are widely 
distributed through the temperate and warmer parts of the world.’ In North America seven species are 
distinguished ; three of them are small seacoast trees and four are shrubs. Of the shrubby North 
American species, Myrica Gale,’ which also inhabits northern and central Europe, northern continental 
Asia, Saghalin, and northern Japan, is distributed through northern regions from the shores of the 
Atlantic Ocean to those of the Pacific. Myrica Caroliniensis* grows on sand dunes and sterile hills 
in the neighborhood of the sea from Nova Scotia to Louisiana, and on the borders of the Great Lakes. 
Myrica peregrina? is widely distributed from Nova Scotia to the Saskatchewan, and southward through 
the northern states and along the Alleghany Mountains to North Carolia and Tennessee; and in 
California Myrica Hartwegi® inhabits the high mountains of the central part of the state. Several 
species are indigenous to the West Indies,° Mexico, Central America, and northern and western South 
bractlets, accrescent and forming lateral wings on the fruit. Peri- 
carp smooth and resinous. Leaves serrate. 
Compronia. Flowers usually monecious; pistillate flowers sur- 
rounded by eight linear subulate bractlets accrescent and forming 
a spiny involucre to the fruit. Pericarp smooth, resinous, and lus- 
trous. Leaves pinnatifid. 
1 C. de Candolle, Prodr. xvi. pt. ii. 147. 
2 Linneus, Spec. 1024 (1753). — Oeder, Fl. Dan. ii. t. 825.— 
Smith & Sowerby, English Bot. viii. 562, t. 562.— De Candolle, 
Lamarck Fl. Franc. ed. 3, iii. 301. — Mirbel, Mém. Mus. xiv. 477, 
t. 28, f. — Nouveau Duhamel, ii. 194, t. 57. — Guimpel, Willdenow 
& Hayne, Abbild. Deutsch. Holz. ii. 260, t. 200. — Bongard, Mem. 
Phys. Math. et Nat. pt. ti. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, ii. 162 (Veg. 
Sitcha). — Hooker, Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 160. — Reichenbach, Icon. Fi. 
German. xi. 30, t. 620.— Ledebour, Fl. Ross. iii. 661. — Maxi- 
mowicz, Afém. Acad. Sci. St. Pétersbourg, ix. 259 (Prim. Fi. 
Amur.).— C. de Candolle, 7. c.—F. Schmidt, Mém. Acad. Sct. St. 
Pétersbourg, sér. 7, xii. 175 (Reisen im Amur-Lande). — Willkomm 
& Lange, Prodr. Fl. Hispan. i. 234 ; Suppl. 57.— Macoun, Cat. 
Can. Pl. 434. — Watson & Coulter, Gray’s Man. ed. 6, 469.— 
Kurz, Bot. Jahrb. xix. 404 (Fl. Chilcatgebietes). 
Myrica palustris, Lamarck, Fl. Frang. ii. 236 (1778). 
Myrica Brabantica, J. E. Gray, Nat. Arr. Brit. Pl. ii. 249 (1821). 
Gale Belgica, Dumortier, Fl. Belg. 12 (1827). 
Cerophora angustifolia, Rafinesque, Alsograph. Am. 11 (1838). 
Cerophora spicans, Rafinesque, /. c. 12 (1838). 
Gale uliginosa, Spach, Hist. Vég. xi. 259, t. 97 (1842). 
Myrica Gale, B tomentosa, C. de Candolle, J. c. 148 (1864). 
Myrica Gale, y Portugalensis, C. de Candolle, 7. «. (1864). 
Astringent and pectoral aromatic properties are ascribed to 
Myrica Gale, and an infusion of the leaves is used to cure the itch 
or is given internally as a vermifuge. ‘The leaves sometimes serve 
in northern Europe as a substitute for hops ; all parts of the plant 
are utilized in dyeing and tanning, and an infusion of the leaves is 
employed in Europe as an insecticide (Loudon, Arb. Brit. iv. 2056. — 
Beringer, Am. Jour. Pharm. lxvi. 220) ; and gale-oil with a pleas- 
ant balsamic odor and styptie flavor is distilled from them (Spons, 
Encyclopedia of the Industrial Arts, Manufactures, and Raw Com- 
mercial Products, ii. 1421). 
8 Miller, Dict. ed. 8, No. 3 (1768).— Wangenheim, Nordam. 
Holz. 102.— Willdenow, Spec. iv. pt. ii. 746; Enum. 1011. — Aiton, 
Hort. Kew. ed. 2, v. 379. — Pursh, Fil. Am. Sept. ii. 620. — Nuttall, 
Gen. ii. 235.— Elliott, Sk. ii. 678.— Sargent, Garden and Forest, 
vii. 476, f. 76. 
Myrica cerifera, p, Linneus, l. c. (1753). — Lamarck, Dict. ii. 
592. 
? Myrica cerifera humilis, Marshall, Arbust. Am. 95 (1785). 
Myrica cerifera, 6 latifolia, Aiton, Hort. Kew. iii. 396 (1789). 
Myrica Pensylvanica, Loiseleur-Deslongchamps, Nouveau Du- 
hamel, ii. 190, t. 55 (1802 ?). — Desfontaines, Hist. Arb. ii. 472. — 
Pursh, J. c.— Sprengel, Syst. i. 493. — Rafinesque, 1. c. 10.— 
Spach, J. c. 262.—Jaume St. Hilaire, Traité des Arbres, ii. t. 
107. 
Myrica cerifera, B media, Michaux, Fl. Bor.-Am. ii. 228 (1803). — 
Nouveau Duhamel, ii. 190. — Chapman, Fl. 427. 
Myrica cerifera, Bigelow, Fl. Boston. 240 (not Linneus) (1814) ; 
Med. Fi. iii. 32, t. 43. — Schmidt, Oestr. Baumz. iv. 49, t. 232. — 
Torrey, Compend. Fil. N. States, 372; Fil. N. Y. ii. 197. — Gray, 
Man. 420. — Emerson, Trees Mass. 224 ; ed. 2, i. 256, t.— Wat- 
son & Coulter, J. c. 470 (in part). 
Myrica sessilifolia, Rafinesque, /. c. 10 (1838). 
Myrica sessilifolia, var. latifolia, Rafinesque, J. c. 10 (1838). 
* Otto Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. ii. 638 (1891). 
Liquidambar peregrina, Linneus, Spec. 999 (1753). — Murray, 
Syst. 705. 
Myrica asplenifolia, Linneus, 1. c. 1024 (1753). — Watson & 
Coulter, I. c. 
Liqudambar asplenifolia, Linneus, Syst. ed. 10, 1273 (1759) ; 
Spec. ed. 2, 1418 — Marshall, /. c. 77. — Schmidt, J. c. ii. 3, t. 61. 
Comptonia asplenifolia, Aiton, 1. c. 334 (1789). — Gertner, Fruct. 
i. 58, t. 90. — Michaux, 1. c. ii. 203. — Willdenow, Spec. iv. pt. i. 
320.— Nouveau Duhamel, ii. 46, t. 11. — Bigelow, J. c. 219. — 
Pursh, lJ. c. 635. — Elliott, J. c. ii. 562. — Nuttall, J. c. ii. 206. — 
Watson, Dendr. Brit. ii. 166, t. 166. — Emerson, /. c. 225; ed. 2, 
i. 258, t. — Torrey, Fl. N. Y. ii. 198. — Gray, J. c. 421. — Chap- 
man, /. c. 
Myrica Comptonia, C. de Candolle, l. c. 151 (1864). 
Sweet Fern, as this shrub is popularly called, is tonic and astrin- 
gent, and in domestic practice is sometimes used in decoctions as a 
remedy for diarrhea and colic (Linneus, Amen. iv. 522 [Liquid- 
ambar peregrina]. — Schoepf, Mat. Med. Amer. 142. — Barton, Coll. 
i, 10.— W. P. C. Barton, Mat. Med. i. 221, t. 19.— Stokes, Bot. 
Mat. Med. iv. 348. — Chiles, Am. Jour. Pharm. xlv. 304. — John- 
son, Man. Med. Bot. N. Am. 251.— Parke, Davis & Co., Organic 
Mat. Med. 176.— U. S. Dispens. ed. 16, 1765. — Beringer, 1. ¢. 
221). 
5 Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. x. 350 (1875). — Brewer & Watson, 
Bot. Cal. ii. 81. 
Myrica Gale, Bentham, Pl. Hartweg. 336 (not Linnzus) (1857). 
6 Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 177 ; Cat. Pl. Cub. 69. — Urban, 
Bot. Jahrb. xv. 357. 
