Myrica
Myrica gale
bayberry, myrique, sweet gale, wax-myrtle
bog myrtle, bois-sent-bon, meadow-fern, myrique baumier, sweet gale
spreading, terete, glabrous or pubescent, often gland-dotted.
purple-black, gland-dotted, glands brownish yellow.
blade aromatic when crushed (except M. inodora), oblanceolate, elliptic, obovate, or oblong-ovate, membranous or leathery, margins entire or serrate-denticulate, especially in distal 1/2, pubescent or glabrous, usually gland-dotted.
blade oblanceolate to obovate, 1.5-6.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm, ± leathery, base cuneate, margins usually minutely serrate, with 1-4 pairs of teeth usually restricted to distal 1/3 of blade, occasionally entire throughout, apex rounded or obtuse;
surfaces abaxially pale green, glabrous to densely pilose, adaxially dark green, glabrous to pilose, both surfaces variously gland-dotted;
glands bright yellow to orange.
± erect, ellipsoid to short-cylindric or ovoid, appearing before or with leaves;
bracts ovate, glabrous or variously pubescent.
staminate ca. 1-1.5 cm;
pistillate to 1.5 cm.
unisexual, rarely bisexual, staminate and pistillate flowers usually on different plants, infrequently on same plants.
unisexual, staminate and pistillate mostly on different plants, occasionally on same plants.
stamens (2-)3-12(-22), shorter or longer than subtending bract;
filaments mostly distinct, often connate into branching staminal column, each branch terminated by anther;
rudimentary ovary occasionally present.
bract of each flower longer than stamens, stamens mostly 3-5.
ovary subtended by 2-6 broadly ovate bracteoles, these sometimes persistent and accrescent, always shorter than fruit, sometimes completely absent;
styles short.
bracteoles 2, accrescent and adnate to base of fruit wall, laterally compressed, glabrous but gland-dotted;
ovary glabrous.
globose or ovoid to lenticular, smooth or more commonly with warty protuberances, usually covered with waxy coating that dries white.
ovoid, flattened, 2.5-3 mm;
fruit wall smooth (no protuberances), without waxy deposit, with glandular deposit, enclosed by spongy bracteoles.
= 8.
= ca. 96.
Myrica
Myrica gale
Species ca. 50 (7 in the flora).
Myrica is often cultivated. Myrica species were used by various tribes of Native Americans for medicinal purposes. Leaves were used for a gynecological aid and an emetic; the bark, as a blood purifier and a kidney aid (D. E. Moerman 1986). Bayberry candles were used by early settlers, and they remain popular household items, both decorative and functional.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
I have seen at least two specimens of Myrica gale from Seneca County, Ohio, although they could have been very old collections. They apparently do not represent the current situation in Ohio.
The spongy bracteoles that surround the fruits aid in dispersal by acting as flotation devices in water. A. J. Davey and C. M. Gibson (1917), as well as others, have commented on the sexual distribution in this species. A. D. MacDonald and R. Sattler (1973) and A. D. MacDonald (1977) have used this species to investigate the nature of the flower/inflorescence in Myricaceae.
The pounded branches of Myrica gale were utilized by the Bella Coola to prepare decoctions taken as a diuretic or as a treatment for gonorrhea (D. A. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Bracts of staminate flowers longer than stamens; bracteoles of pistillate flowers 2, accrescent and adnate to fruit; fruits smooth (without protuberances), lacking waxy deposit (subg. Myrica). | → 2 |
1. Bracts of staminate flowers shorter than stamens; bracteoles of pistillate flowers 4–6, not accrescent or adnate to fruit; fruits with numerous protuberances, usually covered with waxy coating that dries white or blue-white to gray (subg. Morella Loureiro). | → 3 |
2. Bracteoles of pistillate flowers glabrous; leaf margins serrate, usually minutely so, with 1–4 pairs of teeth restricted to distal 1/3 of blade; not extending s of Oregon in w part of range. | M. gale |
2. Bracteoles of pistillate flowers densely pilose, especially at apex; leaf margins serrate, often coarsely so, with 4–12 pairs of teeth ± in distal 1/2 of blade; California only. | M. hartwegii |
3. Staminate flowers with 6 or more stamens, rarely 2–3, especially in distal flowers; fruit wall, but not warty protuberances, pubescent. | → 4 |
3. Staminate flowers with 3–5(–7) stamens; fruit wall usually glabrous, if pubescent, warty protuberances also pubescent. | → 5 |
4. Margins of leaf blade entire, rarely serrate at apex; blade not aromatic when crushed; flowers unisexual, staminate and pistillate on different plants; restricted to Gulf Coast region. | M. inodora |
4. Margins of leaf blade conspicuously serrate almost their entire length; blade fragrant when crushed; flowers bisexual, staminate, and pistillate, all on same plant; Pacific Coast region. | M. californica |
5. Leaf blade densely glandular on both surfaces. | M. cerifera |
5. Leaf blade densely glandular only abaxially. | → 6 |
6. Fruit wall and warty protuberances densely hirsute when young; branches whitish gray in age; leaves deciduous, membranous; fruits 3.5–5.5 mm. | M. pensylvanica |
6. Fruit wall glabrous or sparsely glandular, warty protuberances ± glandular; branches black; leaves persistent or tardily deciduous, leathery; fruits 3–4.5 mm. | M. heterophylla |
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