Myrica pensylvanica

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wikipedia:How to read a taxobox
How to read a taxobox
Myrica pensylvanica

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fagales
Family: Myricaceae
Genus: Myrica
Species: M. pensylvanica
Binomial name
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