it is a thirsty shrub and is happy growing near water, but can tolerate periods of drought. Its roots fix more nitrogen in the soil than many legumes, and so it actually improves the soil where it grows. It is one of the first shrubs to colonize a newly cleared area. It tolerates a variety of soils from sand to clay, and will grow in areas with low soil fertility. Unattractive to deer, this is a reliable grower in the edges of a forest garden. Compounds in both the roots and leaves can be used in herbal medicine. Native Americans and the early settlers used Myraca to treat a number of conditions from diarrhea to fever. Northern Bayberry loses many of its leaves during the winter. Southern Wax Myrtle grows considerably taller than the Northern Bayberry, and retains its leaves. Both shrubs can take salt spray and thrive near the coast. Closely related to Northern Bayberry, Myrica pensylvanica which grows in Zones 3-7 it is also fragrant, and its berries can also be boiled to render a waxy substance for use in candle making. Growing from New Jersey south to Florida along the East Coast, and then west along the Gulf into Texas, Southern Wax Myrtle is hardy in zones 6-9. The berries, produced only on female plants, offer migrating birds an important source of food. Growing to 15′ tall and wide, it offers privacy and attracts many species of birds, offering shelter and safe areas to perch. The smoothish pale gray bark is often covered with lichens.īark of a larger tree, showing horizontally elongated lenticels.Myrica cerifera produces beautiful blue berries along its branches each autumn. Northern Bayberry is much less common in NC, occuring in dunes from Dare Co. The wax may be used to make bayberry candles, though those are usually made from the larger-fruited Northern Bayberry (M. The specific epithet cerifera means "wax-bearing" in Latin. The true Myrtle (Myrtus communis) is a European shrub with small, narrow evergreen leaves.įruit detail. The fruits have a waxy coating, which along with the plant's slightly myrtle-like leaves, gives it the common name Wax-Myrtle. One species of bird is named for its stong association with Wax Myrtle on its wintering grounds - the Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coronata coronata). Morella cerifera is still more commonly known by its old name Myrica cerifera. Confusingly, Morella cerifera is also sometimes called Southern Bayberry. Wax Myrtle is also similar to the less abundant (but still common) Southern Bayberry (Morella caroliniensis), but that species has broader leaves with resin glands only on the leaf undersides. The leaves are evergreen, with yellow glands on both the undersides and uppersides, and very fragrant when crushed.ĭetail of leaf underside showing the yellow resin glands.Īlso called Common Wax-myrtle, Morella cerifera is similar to its less common and much smaller sister species Morella pumila (Dwarf Wax-myrtle), which is stoloniferous (spreading by underground runners) and usually grows less than 3 feet tall. Wax Myrtle is uncommon at the edge of its range in the NC Piedmont, but frequently planted and probably escapes from cultivation. Wax Myrtle is an abundant large shrub or small tree in the Coastal Plain, especially at the immediate coast. Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Myricales>Myricaceae>Morella cerifera (L.) Small Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera)
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