Everything about Myrica totally explained
Myrica is a genus of about 35-50 species of small
trees and
shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including
Africa,
Asia,
Europe,
North America and
South America, and missing only from
Australasia. Some
botanists split the genus into two genera on the basis of the catkin and fruit structure, restricting
Myrica to a few species, and treating the others in
Morella.
Common names include
Bayberry,
Bay-rum tree,
Candleberry,
Sweet Gale and
Wax-myrtle.
The species vary from 1 m shrubs up to 20 m trees; some are
deciduous, but the majority of species are
evergreen. The
roots have
nitrogen-fixing bacteria which enable the plants to grow on soils that are very poor in
nitrogen content. The
leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 2-12 cm 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
acidic
peat bogs throughout the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere; it's a deciduous shrub growing to 1 m tall. The remaining species all have relatively small ranges, and are mostly warm-temperate.
Myrica faya, native to the
volcanic islands of
Madeira and the
Canary Islands, has become an
invasive species on the
Hawaiian volcanoes where it was introduced in the 19th century; its ability to fix nitrogen makes it very well adapted to growing on low-nitrogen volcanic soils.
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 in North America. As the wax is very energy-rich, this enables the Yellow-rumped Warbler to winter further north in cooler climates than any other American warbler if bayberries are present. The
seeds are then dispersed in the birds' droppings.
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,
Bucculatrix myricae (feeds exclusively on
Myrica gale) and
Bucculatrix paroptila and the
Coleophora case-bearers
C. comptoniella,
C. pruniella and
C. viminetella.
Uses
The wax coating on the fruit of several species, known as
Bayberry wax, was used in the past to make
candles. The foliage of
Myrica gale is a traditional
insect repellant, 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. Myrica is used to spice
beer and
snaps in
Denmark. The
Swiss Family Robinson used them to make
candles.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Myrica'.
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