OLASS XXI1, ORDER III | MYRICA. 1281 
Habitat—Sand hills and cliffs upon the South and South-east 
coast of England. 
Shrub ; flowering in May. 
The acid berries are used as a condiment in the South of France, as 
well as Sweden, and are said to be eaten by the Tartars, and that the 
fishermen in the Gulph of Bothnia prepare a rob from them, and 
use it for its flavour as a sauce to fish. The berries, as well as all 
other parts of the plant, contain a yellow colouring matter, which may 
be used as a dye. 
GENUS VI. MYRI'CA—Iinn. Gale. 
Nat. Ord. Myri'cra#. Rica. 
Gen. Cuan. Catkins with conical scales. Perianth wanting. 
Barren flowers with from four to six stamens, the anthers four 
valved. Fertile flowers with two styles, and a single ovary. 
Fruit a one celled single seeded drupe, the seed without albumen. 
Name pveixn, in Greek; synonymous with the Zamariw. 
1. M. Ga'le, Linn. (Fig. 1244.) Sweet Gale, or Dutch Myrile. 
Leaves lanceolate, broader upwards and serrated ; stem shrubby. 
English Botany, t. 562.—English Flora, vol. iv. p. 239.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4 vol. i. p. 375.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 242. 
An erect much branched bushy shrub, with dark smooth bark, downy 
when young, bearing numerous alternate leaves, of a lanceolate or obo- 
vate lanceolate shape, somewhat serrated towards the point, a smooth 
dark green above, paler beneath, and somewhat hairy, especially on the 
prominent mid-rib and short footstaik, deciduous. Catkins nume- 
rous, sessile in the axis of the upper leaves, remaining during the 
winter, and part of the following summer, ovate oblong, crowded. 
Scales ovate, acute, concave, a shining red, studded with numerous 
small glands, often hairy at the tip. Berries small, ovate, compressed, 
studded over with resinous dots, having a very pleasant fragrant 
odour. 
Habitat.—Bogs and moory ground; abundant, especially in 
Scotland. 
Shrub ; flowering in May. 
The leaves, as well as the catkins, exhale a fine aromatic fragrance, 
and are at the same time bitter, on which account they have been 
used as a substitute for hops by the poor people of Sweden, and in 
some parts of the Highlands of Scotland. The catkins, when boiled 
in water, impart to it a kind of wax, which, if collected and dried, 
may be used for making candles in the same manner as that obtained 
from the M. cerifera, or Candle-berry Myrtle, a native of North 
America. From the tanning matter which the plant contains, it is 
