210 



The Bayberry Family 



I. WAX MYRTLE Myrica cerifera Linnaeus 



A small aromatic evergreen tree or shrub inhabiting sandy soils from Delaware 

 to Florida and through the Gulf States to Texas and Arkansas, occurring mostly 

 near the coast ; also in the West Indies and Bermuda. It is also called Bayberry, 

 Waxberry, Candleberr}', Myrtletree, and Puckerbush, and attains a maximum 

 height of 12 meters, with a trunk diameter of 3 dm. 



The slender branches are usually nearly erect; as a shrub it often forms ex- 

 tensive thickets. The bark is about 6 

 mm. thick, smooth, and gray. The twigs 

 are slender, rusty-hairy, and glandular, 

 becoming smooth, shining, red or gray- 

 brown, and dark brown when old, the leaf 

 buds pointed, 3 mm. long. The leaves are 

 thick, firm, and fragrant, oblanceolate or 

 oblong-spatulate, 5 to 10 cm. long, more or 

 less pointed at the apex, wedge-shaped 

 and tapering at the base, sparingly toothed 

 or sometimes entire, resinous, yellowish 

 green, smooth, with a prominent midrib 

 above, paler, with dark yellow glands and 

 more or less short-hairy beneath; the 

 leaf-stalk is slender, 5 to 15 mm. long. 

 The flowers, which are dioecious, appear 

 Fig. 172. Wax Myrtle. jj^ early spring. The staminate catkins 



are about 1.5 cm. long, with ovate or kidney-shaped, sharp-pointed, and fringed 

 scales; the stamens have filaments united for about half their length; anthers ob- 

 long, notched above. The pistillate catkins are about half the length of the stam- 

 inate; the ovary is surmounted by two slender styles projecting beyond the scales 

 and stigmatic on their inner faces. The fruit ripens in autumn in short spikes, 

 sometimes densely clustered around the twigs, to which they remain attached until 

 spring; the drupe is globose, 2 to 3 mm. in diameter, thickly covered with bluish 

 white wax, enclosing the small bony nut; seed oblong, small, and pale brown. 



The wood of the Wax myrtle is soft, brittle, close-grained, dark brown. Its 

 specific gravity is about 0.56. It is probably used only for fuel. The leaves 

 mostly persist during the winter; those of young plants are sometimes very coarsely 

 and sharply toothed. 



2. ODORLESS MYRTLE Myrica inodora Bartram 



Occasionally a tree, but usually a low, odorless evergreen shrub, inhabiting 

 pine-land ponds, and swamps near the coast, in northwestern Florida, Alabama, and 

 Mississippi, apparently extremely local. It attains a height of 6 meters, with a 

 trunk diameter of about 9 cm. 



