2058 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



cultivated in England before 1730, as it is included in the Hortus 

 Anglic us, published in that year. 



» M. <-. ;> fkmOa Michx. Fl. Amer., ii. p. 228., Pursh Fl. Amer., Sept., ii. p. 620., has the 

 leaves linear-lanceolate. In the Nouvcau Du Hamel, it is suggested that this is only a 

 variation produced by some difference of climate or soil. It is very low, and its leaves 

 are not larger than those of the sweet gale of Europe. 



Description, $c. The American candleberry myrtle is a large evergreen 

 shrub, growing to the height of 12 ft. and upwards, in favourable situations, 

 and forming a thick bush. Its general appearance and habits closely resemble 

 those of the European species ; the leaves are, however, larger, and more 

 serrated ; they are evergreen, and, in M. c. latifolia, greatly resemble those 

 of the sweet bay. The male catkins are axillary and sessile; but have not 

 the shining scales of the iliyrica Gale. The fruits are globose drupes, about 

 the bigness of a grain of black pepper ; covered with an unctuous substance 

 as white as snow, which gives them the appearance of a kind of sugar plum. 

 The candleberry myrtle is found in North America, from Virginia to Caro- 

 lina; and the varieties, in New England and Pennsylvania : the species, and 

 M. c. piimila, often in dry shady woods ; while the broad-leaved variety, like 

 the iliyrica Gale of Europe, delights in wet places about swamps or rivers. 

 A kind of candleberry myrtle is found in Canada ; but it appears to belong 

 to ilfyrica Gale, and not to M. cerifera. The principal, if not the only, use 

 made of the candleberry myrtle, in America, is the collecting from it of its 

 resinous wax. This substance, according to Duplessy, was formerly procured 

 by gathering the berries carefully with the stalk attached, and boiling them 

 till they burst, when the oily matter they contained rose to the surface ; it was 

 then skimmed off, and set aside to harden, till it became a substance of about 

 the consistence of putty, and of a greenish colour, which was easily blanched, 

 and was readily inflammable when made into candles. A better way is said 

 to be, pouring boiling water on the berries, by which means a purer wax is 

 extracted, of a pale yellow colour. The candleberry wax is so brittle, that a 

 piece will break if let fall : it may also be reduced to powder, like common 

 resin. It becomes, however, soft, like common wax, by pressure. When 

 made into candles, it is necessary to mix it with bees' wax, or a little suet. 

 The water in which the berries were boiled or infused is used to give a greater 

 degree of firmness to tallow candles. (Vegetaux Resineux> ii. p. 60.) Culti- 

 vated trees are said to yield more wax than those that are found wild. The 

 candles formed of this wax burn long, and yield a grateful smell (Smith's Corr. 

 of Linn.) ; and they are said to have the advantage of producing an agreeable 

 aromatic fragrance when they are blown out, or otherwise extinguished. Ac- 

 cording to Kalm, a soap is made from the wax, and it is used by surgeons 

 for plasters. In Carolina, a kind of sealing-wax is made of it ; and the root 

 is accounted a specific in the toothach. This shrub has been cultivated in 

 English shrubberies since 1699 ; and there are plants of it at the Duke of 

 Devonshire's villa at Chiswick, and at various other places in the neighbour- 

 hood of London, from 6 ft. to 8 ft. high. In France and Germany, it has been 

 cultivated with a view to its producing wax;' and it is said to thrive in sandy 

 peat, rather moist, and to produce an abundant crop of berries every year. In 

 Prussia, it has been cultivated in a garden on the banks of the Spree, near 

 Jierlin, in lat. 52° 53' ; which is nearly L£ degree farther north than London, 

 but where the mean annual temperature is 2° 9' higher than London ; and 

 wax and candles have been made from the fruit. It has been suggested 

 by Dr. Hamilton {Gard. Mag., vol. i. p. 403.), that it might be cultivated for 

 the same purpose in high sandy wastes in Hampshire, and other parts in the 

 south of England. 



A pp. i. Half-hardy Species ofMyrica, cultivated in British 



Hardens. 



hi Sort, Kew. s ed. L.S. p. 897., K, Du Ham.. 2. p. v.tt., /.odd. Cat., si. 18.36, and our 



/ < andleberry Myrtle: has the leaves elliptic-lanceolate, somewhat serrate. Male 



compound Drupe with a 4-celled nucleu*. {Wtlld. op. PL, iv. p. 747.) An evergreen shrub, 



