ON VEGETABLE WAXES. 323. 



free it from impurities. When the wax ceases to rise to the surface, the 

 berries are removed and their place supplied by a fresh quantity, adding to 

 the original water a quantity sufficient to replace the waste by boiling. The 

 same process is pursued ; and after this second batch has been removed, the 

 whole of the water is renewed, and fresh parcels of berries subjected to the 

 same operation, until a sufficiency of wax shall have been obtained. When 

 a sufficient mass to form a cake has been thus separated, it is spread upo,n a 

 cloth to drain, after which it is dried, melted a second time to purify it, and 

 then formed into cakes of a convenient size for the market." * This species 

 of candleberry myrtle is found chiefly in the swampy districts of North 

 Carolina. 



Cape Myktle Wax. — There are five species and two varieties of the 

 candle myrtles (Myrica) indigenous to South* Africa, all of which yield more 

 or less the myrtle wax, now to a certain extent an article of commerce. 

 For more minute details, the reader is referred to an elaborate paper on 

 ' Vegetable Wax from the Candleberry Myrtle,' by P. L. Simmonds, Esq., 

 in the ' Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society,' vol. xiii., p. 418. 



Myrica cordifolia. — This species has leaves somewhat heart-shaped, 

 sessile, closely produced so as to be somewhat imbricate, and with serrated 

 margins in one variety, and entire in the other. It affects a moister soil 

 than the other Cape species; and though they appear to flourish in the pure 

 sands of the Cape flats, they are rooted in a better sub-soil over which the 

 sand has drifted and accumulated. 



Myrica JEthiopica. — The leaves in this species are elliptic in form, with 

 the margin entire at the base, and serrated towards the point or apex. It 

 is met with both on stiff and light soils, and, more frequently than the 

 others, in rocky situations. 



Myrica serrata. — The leaves of this species are lanceolate, attenuated 

 towards the point, sharply serrate, and hairy. The catkins are bisexual, 

 with egg-shaped scales. It is common on all soils in the Cape District, 

 generally on level ground. 



Myrica quercifolia. — The leaves are oblong, with bluntly-waved margins"; 

 the young branches are downy, so as to have a velvety appearance. There 

 are two supposed varieties in cultivation in the gardens of the English 

 residents, the one only distinguished from the other by the leaves being 

 slightly hairy at the base. This species is often found in company with 

 M. serrata. 



Myrica laciniata. — The leaves are oblong, linearly divided from the 

 margin towards the midrib in a feather-like manner. The younger branches 

 are covered with resinous punctures. Catkins androgynous and solitary ; 

 scales blunt. It is found principally in the George District, more commonly 

 on sandy loam or clay soil. 



* ' On the Cultivation, &c, of Myrica Carolinensis, or Wax-tree of Carolina,' by 

 W. Hamilton, M.B. 



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