M Y R 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



M YR 



153 



Park, and near Tunbridge Wells ; in the fens of the Isle of 

 Ely; about Wareham in Dorsetshire; between Shap and Anna 

 Well in Westmoreland. It has the names of Sweet Gale, 

 Goule, Sweet Willow, Wild Myrtle, and Dutch Myrtle. The 

 Scotch call it Gaul, and the Irish, Moss-Gaul. The Germans 

 and Dutch call it Pars or Post; and the French, le Gale 

 ndorant, le Piment royal, &c. This plant cannot be culti- 

 vated in a garden without bog-earth in a moist situation, for 

 it is a native of bogs, and cannot live in any other soil. 



2. Myrica Cerifera ; American Candleberry Myrtle. Leaves 

 elliptic, lanceolate, subserrate; stem arborescent. Maleaments 

 compound; drupe with a four-celled nucleus. This shrub 

 attains the height of thirty feet ; the bark is warted ; the 

 branches unequal and straight ; flowers in aments, on differ- 

 ent individuals ; berry minute, roundish, yellow. There are 

 two varieties : the narrow-leaved and the broad-leaved. In 

 North America, candles are prepared from the berries, whence 

 the plant is called the Tallow-shrub, or Candleberry Tree ; 

 and also the Bayberry bush. It grows abundantly on a wet 

 soil, and seems to thrive particularly well in the neighbour- 

 hood of the sea, being seldom found high up in the country. 

 The berries intended for making candles are gathered late in 

 autumn, and are thrown into a pot of boiling water ; their fat 

 melts out, floats at the top of the water, and may be skimmed 

 off: when congealed, it looks like tallow or wax, but has a 

 dirty green colour; it is therefore melted again, and refined, 

 by which means it acquires a fine and pretty transparent 

 sreen colour. It is dearer than common tallow, but cheaper 

 than wax. They usually mix some tallow with it. Candles 

 of this kind do not easily bend or melt in summer, as common 

 candles do ; they burn better and slower, nor do they cause 

 any smoke, but rather yield an agreeable smell when they are 

 extinguished. At present not many candles of this kind are 

 used ; the animal tallow is readily come at, while it is very 

 troublesome to gather the berries. They are chiefly used by 

 poor people, who live near where the bushes grow, and have 

 not cattle enough to supply them. A soap is made from the 

 fat, which has an agreeable scent, and is excellent for shav- 

 ing; and it is used by surgeons for plasters. In Carolina 

 likewise, they make sealing-wax from these berries ; and the 

 root is accounted a specific in the tooth-ach. This plant 

 is propagated by seeds sown in autumn, for if they are kept 

 out of the ground till the spring, they seldom grow till the 

 year after. They require water in dry weather, and should 

 be screened from frost whilst young. When they have 

 obtained strength, they will resist the cold of this country 

 very well, and will thrive on a moist soft soil. 



3. Myrica Faya; Azorian Candleberry Myrtle. Leaves 

 elliptic-lanceolate, subserrate; male aments compound ; drupe 

 with a four-celled nucleus. It flowers in June and July. 

 Native of Madeira and the Azores. 



4. Myrica JEthiopica; African Candleberry Myrtle. Leaves 

 lanceolate or elliptic, toothed, the lowest entire. Native of 

 the Cape of Good Hope. As this, and the seventh, eighth, 

 and ninth species, do not produce seeds in England, thoy 

 are propagated by layers. When the layers are laid down, 

 that part of the shoot which is laid should be tongued at a 

 joint, as is practised in laying Carnations; and the young 

 shoots only should be chosen for this purpose. The best 

 time for doing this is in July. These layers are often two 

 years before they will have taken root enough to transplant, 

 for they should not be separated by the old plants till they 

 have made good roots, because they are very subject to 

 miscarry if they are not well rooted. When they are taken 

 off from the old plants, they should be each put into a sepa- 

 rate small pot, filled with soft, rich, loamy earth; and if they 



are placed under a common frame, shading them from the 

 sun in the middle of the day, it will forward their taking 

 new root; then they may be placed in a sheltered situation 

 during the summer, and in autumn removed into the green- 

 house, and treated in the same way as other plants from the 

 same country. 



5. Myrica Montana; Mountain Candleberry Myrtle. 

 Leaves lanceolate, serrate, not dotted underneath ; aments 

 globular. This is a shrub, with round smooth branches. 



6. Myrica Nagi ; Japanese Candleberry Myrtle. Leaves 

 lanceolate, entire, veinless. Stem shrubby, smooth, upright; 

 branches decussated, round, spreading very much, leafy. 

 Native of Japan. 



7. Myrica Quercifolia ; Oak-leaved Candleberry Myrtle. 

 Leaves oblong, oppositely sinuate. Stalks slender, shrubby, 

 about four feet high, dividing into smaller branches. This 

 species retains its leaves all the year. It flowers in June and 

 July, and is a native of the Cape. 



8. Myrica Cordifolia; Heart-leaved Candleberry Myrtle. 

 Leaves cordate, serrate, sessile. Stalk weak, shrubby, 6ve 

 or six feet high, sending out many long slender branches, 

 closely garnished their whole length with small heart-shaped 

 leaves, sitting close to the branches, which continue all the 

 year green. The flowers come out between the leaves in 

 roundish bunches. Native of the Cape. 



9. Myrica Trifoliata ; Three-leaved Candleberry Myrtle. 

 Leaves ternate, toothed. Native of the Cape. 



10. Myrica Pennsylvanica. Leaves oblong, very entire ; 

 male aments loose; squames acute ; berries globose. It grows 

 in shady rocky situations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 

 and is about three feet high. 



Myriophyllum ; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Poly- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers. Calix: 

 perianth four-leaved ; leaflets oblong, erect ; outmost larger, 

 inmost less. Corolla : none. Stamina : filamenta eight, capil- 

 lary, longer than the calix, flaccid; antherse oblong. Female 

 Flowers, below the males. Calix: perianth as in the male. 

 Corolla: none. Pistil: germina four, oblong; styles none; 

 stigmas pubescent. Pericarp: none. Seeds: four, oblong, 

 naked. Observe. The first species sometimes, and the 

 second often, has hermaphrodite flowers. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: four-leaved. Corolla: none, (or, according 

 to Gaertner, two-petalled,) Male. Stamina: eight. Female. 

 Pistil : four ; style none. Seeds : four, naked : (Gtertner 

 says, stigmas two or four, sessile; nuts two or four, corti- 

 cated.) The species are, 



1. Myriophyllum Spicatum ; Spiked Water Milfoil. Spike 

 interrupted, leafless. Stem branched; leaves in whorls under 

 water, pinnate; pinnas capillary, deep green; flowering spike 

 rising above the water, bearing six or eight whorls of sessile 

 flowers ; the upper male, somewhat crowded; the lower female, 

 more distant. Native of most parts of Europe, in still water, 

 as ditches, ponds, and lakes. It flowers from May to July. 

 There is also a variety which is more branched, has smaller 

 spikes, and broadish entire leaves at the base of the whorls. 

 Found near Locldon bridge, not far from Reading; also in the 

 river on Hounslow Heath. 



2. Myriophyllum Verticillatum ; Whorled Water Milfoil. 

 Flowers in leafy whorls. Stems simple, six or eight inches 

 high ; leaves not more than an inch long, with pinnas one 

 and a half or two lines in length. It flowers in June and 

 July, and is an inhabitant of ditches and stagnant waters, 

 but not found so extensively as the other, and less common 

 in Britain. With us it has been observed in two or three 

 places near Cambridge ; by the bridge on the Botley road ; near 

 the lane going to Medley, in Oxfordshire ; near Bungay in 



