MYRICACE^ 



MYRICACE^: SWEET-GALE FAMILY 



Myrica carolinensis, Mill. 



April-May Bayberry, 



Wax-berry, 

 Candle-berry, 

 Wax-myrtle. 



Myrica: for derivation see asplenifolia. 

 Carolinensis: Latin for Carolinian. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE SHRUB: a spreading shrub, two feet to eight feet high, 

 branched near the summit, with smooth, grey bark. 



THE LEAVES: crowded at the summit; alternate; lanceolate 

 or ovate; without hairs above, often with a few short, soft 

 hairs beneath; with resinous dots on both sides; blunt at 

 the apex; narrowed at the base; with waved margins; 

 serrate or with a few low teeth above the middle. 



THE FLOWERS: minute, in catkins; the sterile catkins 

 dark reddish-brown. 



THE FRUIT: drupes, bluish white, small, globular, dry, 

 coated with resinous grains of wax, especially waxy when 

 mature. 



A picture of the Commons that failed to include the 

 bayberry bushes would be as incomplete as one that 

 failed to include scrub-oak trees or mealy-plum vines. 

 One cannot think of the heathland, or the dunes, cr the 

 thickets, and not remember the bayberry. In general, 

 the bushes most nearly resemble the beach-plum, but 

 their more ascending branches give them a tidier appear- 

 ance. Always the bayberry can be distinguished by 

 the pungent odor of stem and leaves. But the easiest 

 mark of distinction is the waxy, grey resinous berries 

 that cling to the stem below the dark green leaves clustered 



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