Myrica pensylvanica
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| Myrica pensylvanica | ||||||||||||||
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| Myrica pensylvanica Mirbel |
The Northern Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) is a species of Myrica native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Ohio, and south to North Carolina.
It is a deciduous shrub growing to 2-4.5 m tall. The leaves are 2.5-7 cm long and 1.5-2.7 cm broad, broadest near the leaf apex, serrated, and sticky with a spicy scent when crushed. The flowers are catkins 3-18 mm long, in range of colors from green to red. The fruit is a wrinkled berry 3-5.5 mm diameter, with a pale blue-purple waxy coating; they are an important food for Yellow-rumped Warblers.
This species has root nodules containing nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, allowing it to grow in relatively poor soils.
[edit] Uses
The leaves can be made into Bayberry wax candles or sealing wax seals, along with soaps that bear the distinctive scent of the bayberry wax-myrtle[citation needed].
[edit] References
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