42 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



2 to 16 at the base of the scale, subtended by two or more scale-like bractlets; fila- 

 ments free or united at base into a sort of stipe, anthers erect, ovate, 2-celled. 

 longitudinally dehiscent. Pistillate flowers in ovoid ameiits; ovary sessile, styles 

 forked, stigmatic on inner faces. Fruit a small subglobose drupe with exocarp 

 generally papillose and covered with a waxy exudation, endocarp thick and hard, 

 seed erect, exalbuminous with straight embryo. 



Genus composed of small trees and shrubs, mostly of temperate and warmer 

 climates, several of them being of considerable economic importance, mainly 

 from the yield of wax which is exuded from the surface of the fruit. 



(Myrica is the ancient greek name of some kind of shrub, thought to be the 

 Tamarisk, and probably from juvpi^a), to perfume. 



164. MYRICA CALIFORNICA, CHAM. 

 CALIFORNIA WAX-MYRTLE, BAYBERRY, GREASE-WOOD. 



Ger. , Calif omiacher Kerzenbeer; Fr. , drier de Calif ornie; Sp. , 

 Arrayan de California. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 4-6 in. long, 

 coriaceous, evergreen, slightly fragrant, acute at apex, gradually narrowing at 

 base and decurrent on the short, stout petiole, margin thickened, revolute, sharply 

 and rather remotely serrate, lustrous dark green above, paler and glabrous, or 

 puberulous and minutely glandular-dotted beneath ; the reticulated veins 

 impressed above ; leaf-buds, with brown-tomentose, loosely imbricated scales 

 which persist and grow, for a time, upon the branchlets. Flowers monoecious, 

 subtended by conspicuous bractlets. the staminate aments simple, oblong-cylin- 

 drical, often an inch in length, from axils below those producing the pistillate 

 flowers, the intermediate buds often producing androgynous aments; scales of 

 aments ovate, acute, pale-tomentose and with small lateral bractlets; stamens 

 generally 10-16, exserted, with slender filaments united below, so as to form a 

 short-stemmed exserted cluster ; anthers emarginate ; ovaries ovoid, with 

 two red exserted styles stigmatose along the contiguous surfaces. Fruit ripens in 

 early autumn, globose, dark-purple, papillose, with thin coat of grayish wax on 

 surface. 



A small tree, occasionally attaining the height of 40 ft. (12 in.) with 

 a trunk 15 in. (0.40 m.) or exceptionally more in diameter, with smooth 

 brownish-gray bark which checks tardily as the trunk enlarges, making 

 many short thick-edged fissures through the epidermis and into the 

 chocolate-brown inner bark beneath. In many localities it is a shrub 

 in habit of growth. 



HABITAT. The Pacific Coast region from Puget Sound southward 

 to the vicinity of Santa Monica, Cal., near the coast, under the influ- 

 ence of moisture from the ocean. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. - The wood of the Wax-Myrtle is heavy, 

 hard, strong, rather brittle, close-grained, with very fine ducts and 

 numerous thin medullary rays. It is of a dark-brown color with 

 abundant pinkish-white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.6703; Per- 

 centage of Ash, 0.33; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.6681; 

 Coefficient of Elasticity, 99161 ; Modulus of Rupture, 1036 ; Resist- 



