APPENDIX I. 



MYRICA CORDIFOLIA, LIN,— THE CAPE WAX- 

 BERRY MYRTLE. 



About a century ago it was the opinion of Naturalists, and 

 believed by most people, that wax was a mere vegetable substance, 

 a primary constituent of plants, and especially found in the pollen 

 or dustlike powder which fills the cells in the anthers of flowers. 

 From these it was supposed, that the wax was extracted by the 

 labouring bee, then transformed and modified by animal digestion, 

 and ultimately used for the purpose of making the combs of the 

 bee-hive. Recent researches however, and particularly the acute 

 observations and sagacious experiments of Huber, have proved 

 this theory to be erroneous, showing that bees' wax is really the 

 peculiar secretion of the working bee. 



Yet wax is likewise a vegetable production, frequently seen, 

 not only on the upper surface of the leaves of many plants, but 

 also on the epidermis of various fruits, viz : the plum, grape, 

 fig, &c., forming what is called the bloom, and serving apparently 

 as a kind of varnish against moisture. 



There are, besides, plants which produce vegetable wax in 

 great abundance, and amongst them the genus Myrica has long 

 been know^n for its fecundity in yielding this substance. Wax 

 obtained from the Myrica Cerifera (the candles' berry myrtle), 

 an American shrub, which grows plentifully in the swamps and 

 marshes of Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, was an article 

 of commerce more than a century ago, and appears to have been 

 exported in the form of cakes from these American colonies to 

 England long before their struggle for independence commenced. 



At the Cape seven* species of Myrica have been discovered, 

 named, and botanically described. All of them are ceriferous, 

 but particularly the following three, of which a somewhat detailed 

 diagnosis is here given : — 



I. MYRICA CORDIFOLIA. LIN". 



Shrubby. Height 2 to 6 feet above ground; stem erect, 

 smooth, ash-grey, very branchy. Branches curved and ranged 

 in whorls j the upper leafy-ones pubescent. Leaves crowded at 



* Myrica Cordifolia, Aethiopica, Serrata, Quercifolia, Brevifolia, Kraussiaua, and 

 Burmanni. 



