MYRICACEA. 
SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 85 
America.’ One species* inhabits the Atlantic islands and southeastern Europe ; the genus has several 
representatives in southern Africa,’ and is found in Madagascar‘ and Abyssinia,° southern Asia,’ the 
Malayan Archipelago,’ the Pacific islands,? and China and J apan.? Myrica existed in North America 
and in Europe during the cretaceous period, and the tertiary rocks of Europe show what are believed 
to be the remains of a great number of species. In North America the number of species seems to 
have increased slowly, and it is only in the Parks and Green River groups of the upper tertiary period 
that numerous forms appear with several species referable to the section Comptonia, now represented 
by a single living species of eastern North America.” 
Wax is obtained from the exudations of the fruit of several species," especially from that of the 
North American Myrica cerifera and Myrica Caroliniensis, the South American Myrica pubescens,” 
and the south African Myrica cordifolia. The bark of Myrica is astringent" and is sometimes used as 
1 Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. Gen. et Spec. ii. 16.— 
Kunth, Syn. Pl. 4quin. i. 361.— Bentham, Pl. Hartweg. 71, 157, 
251, 266, 354. — Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Brux. x. pt. ii. 
134. — Hemsley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. iii. 164. 
2 Myrica Faya, Aiton, Hort. Kew. iii. 397 (1789).— Brotero, Fi. 
Lusitan. i. 211. — Nouveau Duhamel, ii. 194, t. 56.—C. de Can- 
dolle, Prodr. xvi. pt. ii. 152.— Willkomm & Lange, Prodr. Fi. 
Hispan. i. 234. 
Fayana Azorica, Rafinesque, Alsograph. Am. 12 (1838). 
Faya fagifera, Webb & Berthelot, Phytogr. Canar. sect. iii. 272, 
t. 216 (1850). 
8 Thunberg, JU. Cap. ed. Schultes, 153. — Chamisso, Linnea, vi. 
535. 
4 Mirbel, Mém. Mus. xiv. 474, t. 28, f. 1.— Baker, Jour. Linn. 
Soc. xx. 267. 
5 A. Richard, Tent. Fl. Abyss. ii. 277. 
6 Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. v. 597. 
7 Blume, Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind. 517 ; Fl. Jav. iii. 5. — Miquel, FY. 
Ind. Bat. i. 871. 
8 Rolfe Jour. Linn. Soc. xxi. 316. 
9 Bentham. Fl. Hongk. 322. — Franchet & Savatier, Enum. Pl. 
Jap. i. 454. — Hance, Jour. Bot. xxi. 357. 
10 Lesquereux, Rep. U. S. Geolog. Surv. vii. 126, t. 16, f. 3-10; 
t. 17, f. 5-15, 17; t. 64, f. 1; t. 65, f. 7-9; viii. 145, t. 25, f. 1-6, 
15; t. 26, f. 1-14; t. 32, f. 8-18; t. 45°, f. 10-15 (Contrib. Fossil 
Fl. W. Territories, ii., iii.).—Saporta, Origine Paléontologique des 
Arbres, 140. — Zittel, Handb. Paleontolog. ii. 452. 
11 Myrica wax is obtained by boiling the fruit and straining the 
supernatant wax through cotton cloth. Formerly largely manufac- 
tured domestically and used in the United States for illuminating, 
it is now rarely made in this country, and is probably employed only 
to adulterate beeswax and in domestic practice in the treatment of 
diarrhea. Myrica wax is pale yellow or grayish green, has a faint 
odor and a slightly bitter taste, and is insoluble in water. (See 
Cadet, Annales de Chimie, xliv. 140 [Sur Varbre cirier de la Louisi- 
ane et de la Pensylvanie]. — Bostock, Nicholson Journal of Natural 
Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, iv. 136.— Bigelow, Am. Med. 
Bot. iii. 32. — Moore, Am. Jour. Sci. ser. 2, xxxiii. 318. — Porcher, 
Resources of Southern Fields and Forests, 312.— Maisch, Am. Jour. 
Pharm. Wii. 339.— U.S. Dispens. ed. 16, 394. — Beringer, Am. 
Jour. Pharm. \xvi. 220.) 
An account of the employment of the wax of Myrica for illumi- 
nating, and of his successful use of it in the treatment of dysentery, 
was sent to Paris by Monsieur Alexandre, a French physician living 
in Louisiana, and was published in L’ Histoire de l’Academie Royale 
des Sciences for the year 1722, 11. See, also, an article on Un 
Arbrisseau d’Amcrique qui porte de la cire, Ibid. 1825, p. 39. 
In 1758 Lepage du Pratz published in his Histoire de la Louisiane 
(ii. 36) an account of Myrica wax, in which he declared that “ Le 
cirier est un des plus grands biens dont la Nature ait enrichi la 
Louisiane, ou les Abeilles s’établissent en terre, pour mettre leurs 
trésors & couvert des ravages des Ours qui en sont trés friands, & 
qui craignent peu leurs piqiires.” Efforts were made to manufac- 
ture the wax in France, where plantations of the two Atlantic coast 
species were made for the purpose with seeds sent by Michaux 
from the United States. They do not appear to have been success- 
ful ; and as early as the middle of the last century the use of Myrica 
wax in candles had already greatly diminished in Pennsylvania, 
owing to the difficulty and expense of collecting the fruit, although 
its price was only about one half that of beeswax. (See Kalm, 
Travels, English ed. i. 192. See, also, W. Bartram, Travels, 406. — 
Romans, Nat. Hist. Florida, 188. — Descourtilz, Voyages, i. 269.) 
In south Africa considerable attention was at one time paid to 
the manufacture of wax from the different indigenous species of 
Myrica, and to their cultivation for its production as well as to hold 
the shifting sands of the shore dunes in place. 
Capensis, 40.) 
12 Willdenow, Spec. iv. pt. ii. 746 (1805). — Humboldt, Bonpland 
& Kunth, 7. c. 19. — Kunth, J. c. 362. — C. de Candolle, J. ¢. 154. — 
Otto Kuntze, Rev. Gen. Pl. ii. 638. 
Myrica macrocarpa, Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, J. c. 16 
(1817). — Kunth, J. c. 361. 
Myrica arguta, Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, J. c. 17, t. 98. — 
Kunth, J. c. 362. —C. de Candolle, 7. c. 153. 
Myrica Caracasana, Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, J. c. 18. — 
Kunth, J. c. — C. de Candolle, J. c. 154. 
Myrica arguta, 8 macrocarpa, C. de Candolle, 1. c. 153 (1864). 
Myrica arguta, y tinctoria, C. de Candolle, J. v. (1864). 
Myrica arguta, § Peruviana, C. de Candolle, /. c. (1864). 
13 Linneus, Spec. 1025 (1753). — Willdenow, J. c. 748. — Thun- 
berg, J. c. 158. — Nouveau Duhamel, ii. 193. — Pappe, I. c.—C. de 
Candolle, 7. c. 148. 
14 The bark of Myrica is acrid, astringent, and stimulant, and in 
the United States that of Myrica cerifera and Myrica Carolinien- 
sis has been extensively used in domestic practice in the treatment 
(See Pappe, Sylva 
of diarrhcea and by eclectics as an ingredient in the “ Thompsonian 
Powder ” (Barton, Coll. ii. 4.— Bigelow, J. c. 40.— Rafinesque, 
Med. Fl. ii. 244.— Humbright, Am. Jour. Pharm. xxxv. 193.— 
Johnson, Man. Med. Bot. N. Am. 250.— U. S. Dispens. ed. 16, 
1864. — Beringer, J. c. 221). The bark of the root is employed in 
homeopathic practice (Lee, Jour. Mat. Med. u. ser. i. 257.— Hale, 
Parthenogenesis of Myrica cerifera. — Millspaugh, Am. Med. Pl. in 
Homeopathic Remedies, ii. 166, t. 160). 
