California Bayberry 



211 



The trunk is straight and slender, with upright branches. The bark is thin, 

 close, smooth, and almost white. The 

 twigs are stout, densely hairy when 

 young, becoming smooth or nearly so 

 and bright brown. The leaf-buds are 

 ovoid, about 5 mm. long, sharp-pointed. 

 The leaves are leathery, closely and 

 finely punctate, oblong-obovate, eUip- 

 tic-obovate or spatulate, 4 to 8 cm. 

 long, blunt at the apex, narrowed at 

 the base, usually quite entire, sel- 

 dom sparingly toothed at the upper 

 end, dark green and very glossy above, 

 dull green with a prominent midrib 

 beneath; the very short leaf-stalk is 

 slightly margined. The flowers are 

 dioecious, opening from March to 

 May; staminate catkins stout, i to 

 1.5 cm. long, their scales orbicular or 

 ovate, nearly as broad as long, hairy 



fringed, the filaments short, united at 



,, , ,1 1, 1. 1,1 Fig. 173. Odorless Myrtle, 



the base; anthers oblong, shghtly '^ ' 



notched, yellow^, and slightly projecting beyond the scales. The pistillate catkins 

 are slender and elongated; scales loosely imbricated, orbicular-ovate, broader than 

 long, each usually bearing two flowers; ovary ovoid, hairy, the styles 2, bright 

 red, spreading and projecting beyond the scales; the rachis continues to lengthen 

 after flowering, sometimes becoming 5 cm. long. The fruit, which is not abun- 

 dantly produced, is globose, 5 to 7 mm. in diameter, often soHtar)', its waxy 

 coating thin; shell of the nut thick and bony; seed oblong or oblong-obovoid, 

 sharp-pointed, 3 mm. long, and yellowish brown. 



3. CALIFORNIA BAYBERRY Myrica calif ornica Chamisso 



This evergreen tree, also called Cahfornia wax myrtle, Cahfomia myrtle, Wax 

 myrtle. Myrtle, and Bayberty, occurs on the Pacific coast from Los Angeles, Cah- 

 fomia, northward to Washington, growing in sand-dunes along sah marshes, or 

 on hillsides, attaining its largest dimensions, 12 meters high, with a trunk diameter 

 of 4 dm., in Cahfornia. It is usually smaller and often a mere shrub. 



The branches are short and ascending, forming a rather compact tree. The 

 bark is about 2 mm. thick, smooth and close, dark gray or gray-brown, and red- 

 dish within. The twigs are stout, hairy, and dark green, becoming rather smooth, 

 red-brown, and finally hght gray. The leaves are thin in texture, oblanceolate or 

 oblong- lanceolate, 5 to 10 cm. long, sharp-pointed, wedge-shaped at the base, 



