MYRICA 89 



of a varying number of stamens, the female of a one-celled ovary with two 

 stalk less stigmas. 



The Myricas are not much grown in gardens, but are worth a place 

 for their sweetly scented leaves, and, in the American kinds, their white, 

 wax-coated fruits. They thrive in any ordinary soil. Increased by seed 

 or layering. 



M. CALIFORNICA, Chamisso. CALIFORNIAN BAVBERRY. 



An evergreen shrub, 10 to 14 ft. high, with erect, vigorous shoots, hairy 

 when young. Leaves oblanceolate or somewhat oval, tapered at both ends, 

 regularly and angularly toothed, sometimes almost to the base ; 2 to 4 

 ins. long, \ to f in. wide ; dark glossy green, glandular on both surfaces, 

 especially beneath, downy only on the midrib above, slightly fragrant when 

 crushed ; stalk J in. or less long. Male catkins borne in the axils of the 

 year-old leaves, about i in. long ; female catkins usually on the same plant. 

 Fruit globular, \ in. across, covered with white wax. 



Native of California, where it is sometimes a tree 40 ft. high. In very 

 hard winters this shrub is cut back to ground-level at Kew, but in ordinary 

 winters survives without injury except to the tips of the young shoots. It 

 is a cheerful, vigorous evergreen, but its leaves are not so strongly scented 

 as those of the other species here mentioned. Very well adapted for the 

 milder parts of the country. 



M. CERIFERA, Linnceus. WAX MYRTLE. 



A deciduous, or more or less evergreen shrub in this country, but said to 

 be at times a small evergreen tree, 20 to 40 ft. high in a wild state ; young 

 shoots downy. Leaves narrowly obovate or oblanceolate, very variable 

 in size in different forms, the largest 4^ ins. long and 2 ins. wide, but 

 normally i^ to 3 ins. long, ^ to f in. wide ; usually toothed towards the 

 apex, glossy green and smooth above, dotted with yellowish resin-glands 

 beneath, and downy on the midrib ; stalk ^ to |- in. long. Male catkins 

 ^ to -| in. long. Fruits globular, in. wide, coated with white glistening 

 wax, stalkless, densely crowded in clusters of two to six on the growths 

 of the previous year. 



Native of the south-eastern United States ; introduced in 1699. I n the 

 early part of the occupation by Europeans of its native region, this shrub 

 was valued 'by the settlers for the wax yielded by the fruits. This white, 

 waxy coating, which gives so distinctive a character to the plant in autumn, 

 was removed by boiling, and then made into candles. According to Kalm, the 

 Swedish traveller, these candles burnt better and more slowly than ordinary 

 tallow ones, and gave an agreeable smell when extinguished. The species 

 is very variable in leaf, especially in size and toothing. 



Var. LATIFOLIA, Alton. A form grown for many years at Kew. It has 

 obovate leaves 2 to 4^ ins. long, I to 2 ins. wide ; dark glossy green and 

 smooth above, hairy over the whole surface beneath, especially on the 

 midrib ; young shoots hairy. It is a shrub 9 ft. high and 12 ft. through. 



Closely allied to M. cerifera, and perhaps a more northerly form of it, is 

 the "Bayberry" M. CAROLINENSIS, Miller. This reaches into Canada, and 

 extends in a wild state from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward 

 Island south to Florida, etc. It differs in its leaves being more often oblong 

 and oval than obovate, more abruptly tapered at the base, and blunter at the 

 apex than in M. cerifera ; downy above. Young wood downy. The fruit is 

 coated with white wax, as in the other, but is somewhat larger (\ in. wide). 

 This species is always shrubby, and up to 8 or 9 ft. high. It is, no doubt, 

 II G 



