BAYBERRY FAMILY 



Wood light brown, hard, and heavy, too small to use for anything but 

 fuel. 



Myricaceae Bayberry Family 



Shrubs or trees, leaves simple, alternate, generally coriaceous, resin- 

 dotted and aromatic; flowers monoecious or dioecious, in short scaly cat- 

 kins, solitary in the axil of the bract, calyx and corolla lacking, staminate 

 flower with 2-16 stamens, filaments short, free or more or less united, 

 anthers 2-celled, pistillate flowers consisting of a solitary 1 -celled ovary, 

 subtended by 2-8 bracts, ovule 1, style short, stigmas 2, linear; fruit 

 a drupe-like nut. 



The family includes the two following genera. 



KEY TO THE GENERA 



1. Leaves entire or slightly serrate, without stipules Myrica 



2. Leaves deeply pinnatifid or cut, stipulate Comptonia 



Myrica L inne 1753 

 (Ancient Greek name of a shrub, perhaps from the fragrance. ) 



Shrubs or small trees, leaves entire, serrate or dentate, mostly resin- 

 dotted, monoecious or dioecious; staminate catkins oblong or cylindric, 

 stamens 4-8, filaments slightly united below, pistillate catkins ovoid or 

 globular, pistil subtended by 2-4 deciduous or persistent bractlets ; fruit 

 small, globular or short-cylindric, dry, coated with resinous granules or 

 wax. 



A genus of 34 species of wide geographical distribution, besides the* 

 following, 3 occur in the eastern and southern parts of the United States 

 and 2 on the Pacific coast. 



Myrica Gale L i n n e 1753 Sweet Gale 



A branching shrub 0.5-1.5 m. high, branches dark brown, with pale 

 lenticels, young shoots slightly pubescent; leaves oblanceolate, cuneate 

 at the base, obtuse and dentate at the apex, dark green and glabrous 

 above, pale and pubescent or glabrous beneath, mostly resin-dotted on both 

 sides and aromatic, 3-6 cm. long, 8-18 mm. wide, petioles about 2 mm. 

 long; staminate catkins oblong-cylindrical, 10-15 mm. long, loose-bracted, 

 pistillate catkins ovoid-oblong, about 5 mm. long, stigma very prominent : 

 fruiting catkin 7-10 mm. long, drupe resinous-waxy, inclosed by 2 thick, 

 persistent bractlets, 2-3 mm. long : Gale, an aromatic plant. 



In swamps and along lakes and streams, along the International 



