Myrica. MYRICACE.E. g]^ 



aments oblong to ovate, 4 to 6 lines long: nutlets very broadly obovate, IJ lines 

 long, thinly margined or narrowly winged. — Bot. Mex. Euiuul, 204. A. serru- 

 latd, var. oblongifolia, Eegel, DC. Pi-odr. xvi^. 188. 



In the Cu3'umaca niouutaiiis, San Diego County, and eastward to New Mexico, and in North- 

 ern Mexico ; growing 20 to 30 feet liigh. 



4. A. incana, Willd., var. virescens, "Watson. Branches grayish brown : 

 leaves more or less broadly ovate, 2 or 3 inches long, acute, rounded at base or 

 slightly cordate, acutely doubly toothed, light green and glabrous on both sides or 

 sparingly pubescent : staminate aments rather slender, li to 2 inches long : fruiting 

 aments ovate-oblong, 4 to 6 lines long: nutlets round-obovate, thinly margined, \\ 

 lines long.- — A. mcana,\ar. glauca, Kegel, 1. c. 189, in i)art ; Watson, Bot. King 

 Exp. 323. A. serrulata, var. rugosa, Eegel, 1. c. 188, in part. 



From Oregon to the Saskatchewan and southward in the mountains to the southern Sierra 

 Nevada and New Mexico ; fre(|uent on the eastern slope of the Sierra, and reported by Muir as 

 forming dense thickets along the branches of the San Joaquin, King's and Kern Rivers at an alti- 

 tude of 6,000 to 7,000 feet. It is seldom large, usually 8 to 15 feet high. In the Atlantic States 

 it has the leaves much more densely pubescent and hoary, nearly resembling the typical form of 

 the Old World, or sometimes smoother and glaucous beneath. 



Order XCII. MYRICACE-E. 



Shrubs, n)oncecious or dio-cious, with alternate usually Avaxy-dotted and Iragrant 

 leaves, mostly without stipules, and flowers solitary and sessile in the axils of scaly 

 bracts of the axillary sessile ovoid or cylindrical aments ; perianth none ; stamens 2 

 to 1 6, sessile, or the filaments somewhat united ; ovary with 2 to 4 small scales or 

 bractlets at base, 1-celled, 1-ovuled, with 2 sessile filiform stigmas; nut small, drupe- 

 like, often waxy ; seed erect, orthotropous, with thin membranous testa and no albu- 

 men ; radicle superior, elongated. 



An order of chiefly a single genus of 30 or 40 sx)ecies ; one species European (Mi/rica Gale), the 

 rest l)e]onging to North America, S. Africa, and the mountains of Asia and Java. Wax is ob- 

 tained in abundance from the fruit of several species. 



1. MYRICA, Linn. Batderry. Wax-Myrtle. 



Characters as of the order. 



* 3Ionoeclous: aynents androgijnous, the staminate floii^ers helow : bractlets minute 

 at the base of the globular tvaxg fruit. 



1. M. Californica, Cham. An evergreen shrub or small tree : leaves thick and 

 coriaceous, usually slightly tomentose below, oblanceolate, 2 to 4 inches long, acute, 

 attenuate to a short petiole, serrate above the base : aments simple or somewhat 

 compound, 3 to 5 lines long ; the small very broadly ovate obtuse bracts more or 

 less lacerately ciliate, especially near the base : staminate flowers few ; stamens about 

 10 (6 to 15), the filaments united into an exserted panicle: bractlets usually 2, 

 oblong, ciliate : fruit purple, papillose, thinly coated M'ith grayish-white wax, 2 

 lines in diameter. — Linnsea, vi. 535 ; Lindl. in Journ. Hort. Soc. Lond. vii. 282, 

 with fig. ; C. DC. Pro<lr. xvi'-'. 153. 



From the Sacramento to Washington Territory, in moist places or on hillsides. Of close erect 

 habit and dark evergreen foliage, in the neigliborhood of .San Francisco sometimes attaining 

 a height of 30 or 40 feet, with a diameter at base of 2 feet or more. 



% * Floivers dlmclous : bractlets exceeding and adnate to the sidjcomprcssed 



naked fruit. 



2. M- HartTVegi, Watson. A dittuse shrub, 3 to 6 feet high : branches more 

 slender and elongated : leaves deciduous, thinner, oblanceolate, 2 inches long, acute, 



