MYRI'CA GA'LE. 
SWEET GALE. 
Class. 
DICECIA. 
Order. 
PENTANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
MYRJCACE.E, 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Inhabits 
Britain. 
4 feet. 
May. 
Perennial. 
Swamps. 
No. 1146. 
Myrica is said to have been founded on the G reek 
word myko, to flow ; from its preference to the 
neighbourhood of running streams. Tournefort 
adopted the name Gale for this plant; but Linneus, 
it may be presumed, disapproved of the Dutch 
origin of the word ; and finding Myrica a name 
which lived in the nomenclature of the ancient. 
Greeks, but like a half-pay naval officer, was unat- 
tached, he exercised the patronage awarded him 
by the world of natural science, and gave it the 
captaincy of this genus. The English name Sweet 
Gale, or Gaule, is pretty well known, especially in 
Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, where the plant is 
more abundant than in England, although not un- 
common in the northern watery districts of West- 
morland and Cumberland. It delights in marshes, 
moors, and boggy places amongst hills ; hence 
its preference for the countries above alluded to. 
It is also found in the north of Europe, in Asia, 
and America. 
The Myrica gale is a deciduous bushy shrub, 
composed of numerous stems, growing about a yard 
high. It is both monoecious and dioecious, its male 
