GENUS i. 



BAYBERRY FAMILY. 



55 



2. Myrica cerifera L. Wax-myrtle. Fig. 1436. 



Myrica cerifera L. Sp. PI. 1024. 1753- 



A slender tree, or a shrub, maximum height 

 about 40, trunk diameter ii, the bark gray, nearly 

 smooth. Leaves narrow, oblong or oblanceolate, 

 mostly acute at the apex, entire or sparingly den- 

 tate, narrowed or somewhat cuneate at the base, 

 fragrant when crushed, short-petioled, dark green 

 above, paler and sometimes pubescent beneath ; 

 golden-resinous, i'~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 i" in diameter, tipped with the minute base 

 of the style, long-persistent, the bracts and bract- 

 lets deciduous. 



In sandy swamps or wet woods, southern New 

 Jersey to Florida and Texas, north to Arkansas. 

 Also in the West Indies. March-April. Leaves 

 mostly persistent through the winter. Wood light, 

 brown ; weight per cubic foot 35 Ibs. Waxberry. 

 Tallow-bayberry. Candleberry. Tallow-shrub. Sweet 

 oak. Candleberry-myrtle. 



3. Myrica carolinensis (Mill.). Small Waxberry. Bayberry. Fig. 1437. 



Myrica carolinensis Mill. Card. Diet. Ed. 8, no. 3. 

 1768. 



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"-i8" 

 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 sepa- 

 rated, globose, bluish white, very waxy, i"-ii" 

 in diameter, long-persistent, the bracts and bract- 

 lets deciduous. 



In dry or moist sandy soil, Nova Scotia to Flor- 

 ida and Louisiana 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. />/. po. 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 Myrica. 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-oblong 

 bony nut. [Name in honor of Rev. Henry Compton, 1632-1713, bishop of Oxford.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



