Common names include bayberry, bay-rum tree, candleberry, sweet gale, and wax-myrtle. The generic name was derived from the Greek word μυρίκη (myrike), meaning "fragrance".[5][6]
The species vary from 1 m (3 ft 3 in) shrubs up to 20 m (66 ft) trees; some are deciduous, but the majority of species are evergreen. The roots have nitrogen-fixingbacteria which enable the plants to grow on soils that are very poor in nitrogen content. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 2–12 cm (13⁄16–4+3⁄4in) long, oblanceolate with a tapered base and broader tip, and a crinkled or finely toothed margin. The flowers are catkins, with male and female catkins usually on separate plants (dioecious). The fruit is a small drupe, usually with a wax coating.
The type species, Myrica gale, is holarctic in distribution, growing in acidicpeatbogs throughout the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere; it is a deciduous shrub growing to 1m tall. The remaining species all have relatively small ranges, and are mostly warm-temperate.
The wax coating on the fruit is indigestible for most birds, but a few species have adapted to be able to eat it, notably the yellow-rumped warbler and tree swallow in North America. As the wax is very energy-rich, this enables the yellow-rumped warbler to winter farther north in cooler climates than any other American warbler if bayberries are present. The seeds are then dispersed in the droppings of the birds.
Myrica species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail, emperor moth, and winter moth as well as the bucculatricid leaf-miners Bucculatrix cidarella, B. myricae (feeds exclusively on M. gale) and B. paroptila and the Coleophora case-bearers C. comptoniella, C. pruniella, and C. viminetella.
Native Americans used bayberry medicinally. The root bark was pounded into powder and mixed with water to cure diarrhea. American pioneers sniffed the powder to counter nasal congestion. It was sometimes used in poultices.[8]
The wax coating on the fruit of several species, known as bayberry wax, has been used traditionally to make candles. It was used for that purpose by the Robinson family in the novel The Swiss Family Robinson.[9] The foliage of Myrica gale is a traditional insect repellent, used by campers to keep biting insects out of tents. Several species are also grown as ornamental plants in gardens. The fruit of Myrica rubra is an economically important crop in China, sold fresh, dried, canned, for juice, for flavoring in snacks, and for alcoholic beverages. Myrica is used to spice beer and snapsinDenmark.
The leaves can add flavor to soups and broths. They can be dried and stored in jars to be used as a spice.[8]
^Valérie Huguet, Manolo Gouy, Philippe Normand, Jeff F. Zimpfer, and Maria P. Fernandez. 2005. "Molecular phylogeny of Myricaceae: a reexamination of host-symbiont specificity". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution34(3):557–568. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.018
