MY RICA 
69 
Order 2. MYRICALES 
Myricales Engler Pfianzenfam., Nachtr. i, 345 (1897); Syll. ed. 2, 101 (1898). 
Allied to Juglandales in which the order Myricales was for a time included by Engler. 
For characters, see page 3. Only family : — Myricaceae. 
Family 1. MYRICACEAE 
Myricaceae Lindley Nat. Syst. ed. 2, 179 (1836) partim ; Bentham and Hooker Gen. Plant, iii, 400 (1880) ; 
Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 351 (1910). 
Small trees, shrubs, or undershrubs. Leaves deciduous. Catkins appearing before or with 
the leaves. Flowers wind-pollinated. Bracts concave. Bracteoles usually 2 to each staminate flower, 
2 — 8 to each pistillate flower. Perianth absent. Stamens 2 — 16. Filaments short, free or more or 
less united towards the base. Anthers with 2 loculi, basifixed, extrorse. Ovary sessile, with 1 loculus, 
each loculus with 1 ovule. Stigmas 2, filiform. Fruit drupoid. 
2 genera, Myrica and Comptonia , the latter being monotypic. Only British genus : — Myrica. 
Genus 1. Myrica 
Myrica L. [Gen. PI. ed. 1, 302 (1737)] Sp. PI. 1024 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 449 (1754); Engler in 
Pfianzenfam. iii, pt. i, 26 (1894); Gale [Adanson Fam. PI. ii, 345 (1763)] Chevalier in Mem. Soc. Nat. Sc. et 
Math. Cherbourg xxxii, 177 (1900 — 2) including Gale. 
Small trees, shrubs, or undershrubs. Stipules absent or minute and caducous. Laminae entire 
or more or less serrate, usually glandular. Staminate catkins oblong-cylindrical. Stamens 4 — 8. 
Pistillate catkins ovoid or globular, very dense-flowered. Bracts persistent, glandular, usually persistent 
and enlarging in fruit and adhering to the achene, not becoming bristly. Bracteoles 2 — 4. Achene 
small, globular or shortly cylindrical. 
About 40 species ; western and northern Europe, Asia, Abyssinia, South Africa, America. 
The only British species belongs to the subgenus Gale (Endlicher Gen. PI. 272 (1836 — 1840) as a section; Ascherson 
und Graebner Syn. iv, 352 (1910)). 
I. MYRICA GALE. Bog Myrtle or Sweet Gale. Plate 70 
Myrtus brabantica sive elaeagnus cordi Gerard Herball 1228 (1597); Gale frutex odoratus septentrionalium 
elaeagnus cordo Ray Syn. ed. 3, 443 (1724). 
Myrica gale L. sp. PI. 1024 (1753); Syme Eng. Bot. viii, 189 (1868); Ascherson und Graebner Syn. iv, 
352 (1910); Rouy FI. France xii, 262 (1910); Gale palustris Chevalier Monogr. in Mem. Soc. Nat. Sc. et Math. 
Cherbourg xxxii, 177 (1901 — 2). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 562 (1799); Ft. Dan. t. 327; Reichenbach Icon. t. 670, fig. 1277. 
Camb. Brit. Ft. ii. Plate 70. («) Twig with pistillate catkins. ( b ) Twig with staminate catkins. ( c ) Fertile 
shoot in autumn. ( d ) Bract and staminate flower (enlarged). ( e ) Pistillate catkin (enlarged). (/) Fruits 
(enlarged). Huntingdonshire (E. W. H.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 3900; van Heurck et Martinis, iv, 187; Reichenbach, 817; Schultz et Winter, ii, 147; 
Wirtgen, ix, 525; xi, 525 bis; Herb. FI. Itigric. vi, 588. 
Undershrub, about o'5 — 1*5 m. high, glandular and odorous. Roots with tuberous branches. 
Branches usually erect, numerous, dark brown. Petioles short (about 1 — 3 mm.). Laminae ob- 
lanceolate, entire towards the base, toothed towards the apex, up to about 4 cm. long and 1 
broad. Catkins either dioecious or monoecious and diclinous, sessile, appearing before the leaves. 
Staminate catkins ascending or spreading, cylindrical, rather lax-flowered, about 1 — 2 cm. long and 
075 broad ; late April and early May. Bracts broadly ovate, ciliate. Stamens 4. Pistillate catkins 
ascending, spreading in fruit, dense-flowered, much smaller, about 5 mm. long and 3 broad, up 
to about 1 cm. long in fruit ; May. Bracts glandular, persistent. Achene , adherent to the enlarged 
connate bracts ; August. 
