Myrica
Myrica pensylvanica
bayberry, myrique, sweet gale, wax-myrtle
candletree, candlewood, myrique de pennsylvanie, northern bayberry, small waxberry, swamp candleberry, tallow bayberry, tallowshrub, tallowtree, waxberry
spreading, terete, glabrous or pubescent, often gland-dotted.
reddish brown and gland-dotted when young, becoming whitish gray in age, otherwise densely pilose;
glands 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 aromatic when crushed, oblanceolate to elliptic, occasionally obovate, 2.5-6.5(-7.8) × 1.5-2.7 cm, usually membranous, less often leathery, base cuneate to attenuate, margins sometimes entire, usually serrate distal to middle, apex obtuse to rounded, sometimes acute, short-apiculate;
surfaces abaxially pale green, pilose on veins, moderately to densely glandular, adaxially dark green, pilose (especially along midrib), glandless or sparsely glandular;
glands yellow-brown.
± erect, ellipsoid to short-cylindric or ovoid, appearing before or with leaves;
bracts ovate, glabrous or variously pubescent.
staminate 0.4-1.8 cm;
pistillate 0.3-1.4 cm.
unisexual, rarely bisexual, staminate and pistillate flowers usually on different plants, infrequently on same plants.
unisexual, staminate and pistillate on different 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 flower shorter than staminal column, margins opaque, apically ciliate or completely glabrous, usually abaxially glabrous, occasionally densely pilose;
stamens mostly 3-4.
ovary subtended by 2-6 broadly ovate bracteoles, these sometimes persistent and accrescent, always shorter than fruit, sometimes completely absent;
styles short.
bracteoles persistent in fruit, 4, not accrescent or adnate to fruit wall, margins slightly ciliate or glabrous, abaxially usually densely gland-dotted;
ovary wall densely hirsute near apex, otherwise glabrous.
globose or ovoid to lenticular, smooth or more commonly with warty protuberances, usually covered with waxy coating that dries white.
globose-ellipsoid, 3.5-5.5 mm;
fruit wall and warty protuberances hirsute, at least when young, hairs usually obscured by thick coat of white wax.
= 8.
Myrica
Myrica pensylvanica
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.)
Where their ranges overlap, Myrica pensylvanica hybridizes quite readily with both M. cerifera and M. heterophylla. This ease of hybridization obviously contributes to an already complicated taxonomic situation; it is a matter for further field-based investigation.
(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 |
CA
OR
WA
Flora NW
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
PNW Herbaria
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
MD Biodiversity
