0382 



is slightly bigger. When they're crushed, the leaves of both plants release a most pleasant 

 balsamic fragrance. 



FLOWERS: in May. Like the other species, it's found in North America. 



NOMENCLATURE. Myrica was the name the Greeks gave to the tamarisk, which 

 like our sweet gale grows on the banks of streams. The word gale is derived from gal or 

 fat, oily. The English name for Myrica cerifera is candleberry myrtle. 



USES. The fruit of the latter two species yields a greenish wax used for making 

 candles. For this purpose, people in the north of America pick the berries in the autumn. 

 They put them in cauldrons full of water and boil the whole lot, stirring and crushing the 

 berries from time to time against the walls of the vessel to more easily dislodge the wax. 

 They collect it with a spoon on the surface of the water and run it through a coarse cloth 

 to get the impurities out. When no more wax comes off the seeds, they're removed with a 

 skimmer and fresh ones are put in. They melt the wax a second time to get it purer and 

 make cakes out of it. Eight pounds of seeds yield about a pound of wax. Bayberry candles 

 don't make any smoke when extinguished. 



CULTIVATION. The sweet gale is propagated from seeds as well as by dividing 

 the plants. The wax myrtle is at risk in the north of France, but the bayberry yields 

 flowers and fruit there. Either one of them is propagated from rooted shoots or by 

 planting seeds in trays. 



KEY TO PLATES. 



542. Sweet gale. 1 . Branch bearing female flowers. 2. Same, with male flowers. 3. 

 Male catkin. 4 and 5. Female flower. 6. Fruit, transverse section. 



543. Wax myrtle. 



544. Bayberry. Section of fruit. 2. Same, intact. 3. Male flower. 4. Catkin of 

 female flowers. 



