2924 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
Sp.2. Tur Bay Berry. Wax Mvrriz. Myrica cerifera. L. 
Figured in Bigelow’s American Medical Botany, III, Plate 43. 
This is a crooked shrub, found growing in interrupted, mini- 
ature forests, in every variety of situation and soil: fom dry, 
rocky hills to sandy plains and the borders of marshes. It 1s 
from two to six or seven feet high, very irregular, rarely ercct, 
giving off crooked or angled, rough branches, in bunches of 
three or four. The bark is brownish gray, with clouds of a 
lighter hue, dotted with round, or oblong, horizontal, white dots. 
The leaves are irregularly scattered, often crowded or tufted, 
nearly sessile, obovate, lancc-shaped, abruptly pointed, wedge- 
shaped at base, wavy, entire or with a few serratures, some- 
times revolute on the edge, and whiter and sprinkled with yel- 
lowish dots beneath. 'The barren flowers, which expand with 
the leaves in May, are in stiff, erect catkms, less than an inch 
long, on the sides of the last year’s branches. The scales are 
roundish or rhomboidal, somewhat loosely arranged, and con- 
tain each three or four stamens, often partially united by twos, 
and surmounted by anthers divided to their base. The catkins 
of the fertile flowers, which are on a different plant, are much 
smaller, erect, made up of imbricated, oval, pointed scales, con- 
taining an ovary surmounted by two prominent, awl-shaped 
stigmas. On each matured ament are from four to nine, dry, 
waxy berries or drupes, on very short footstalks. They are at 
first green, afterwards blackish, and finally white, consisting of 
a stone covered with black grains invested with wax. ‘he 
fruit-stalks continue to the second or third year, twelve or more 
arranged spirally on a shoot. ‘The berries, leaves and recent 
shoots are fragrant with a balsamic odor which seems to come 
from the minute, transparent, yellow dots with which the recent 
shoots and under surface of the leaves are sprinkled. ‘I'he 
roots are large and somewhat spreading. 
The wax is obtained by boiling the berrics in water. It rises 
to the surface and hardens on cooling. About one third part 
of the weight of the berries consists of wax. In Nova Scotia, 
this wax is used extensively, instead of tallow, or mixed with 
