CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SPECIES.
Flowers diœcious. Leaves oblanceolate, usually acute or rarely rounded at apex, mostly coarsely serrate above the middle, yellow-green, coated below with conspicuous orange-colored glands.1. [M. cerifera] (A, C). Leaves usually broadly oblong-obovate, rounded or rarely acute at apex, entire, dark green and lustrous.2. [M. inodora] (C). Flowers monœcious; leaves oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate, dark green and lustrous.3. [M. californica] (G).
1. [Myrica cerifera] L. Wax Myrtle.
Leaves oblanceolate or rarely oblong-lanceolate, acute or rarely gradually narrowed and rounded at apex, cuneate at base, decurrent on short stout petioles, coarsely serrate above the middle or entire, yellow-green, covered above by minute dark glands and below by bright orange-colored glands, 1½′—4′ long and ¼′—½′ wide, with a slender pale midrib often puberulous below, and few obscure arcuate veins, fragrant with a balsamic resinous odor; gradually deciduous at the end of their first year. Flowers in small oblong aments, with ovate acute ciliate scales, those of the staminate plant ½′—¾′ long, about twice as long as those of the pistillate plant; stamens few, with oblong slightly obcordate anthers at first tinged with red, becoming yellow; ovary gradually narrowed into 2 slender spreading stigmas longer than its scale. Fruit in short spikes, ripening in September and October and persistent on the branches during the winter, irregularly deciduous in the spring and early summer, globose, about ⅛′ in diameter, slightly papillose, light green, coated with thick pale blue wax; seed pale, minute.
A tree, occasionally 40° high, with a tall trunk 8′—10′ in diameter, slender upright or slightly spreading branches forming a narrow round-topped head, and slender branchlets marked by small pale lenticels, coated at first with loose rufous tomentum and caducous orange-colored glands, bright red-brown or dark brown tinged with gray, usually lustrous and nearly glabrous during their first winter, finally becoming dark brown; generally smaller, frequently shrubby. Winter-buds oblong, acute, 1/16′—⅛′ long, with numerous ovate acute imbricated scales, the inner scales becoming nearly ½′ long, and often persistent until the young branch has completed its growth. Bark of the trunk ¼′ thick, compact, smooth, light gray. Wood light, soft and brittle, dark brown, with thin lighter-colored sapwood.
Distribution. In the neighborhood of the coast; Cape May, New Jersey, southern Delaware and Maryland to the keys of southern Florida, and through the Gulf states to the shores of Aranzas Pass, San Patricio County, Texas, ranging inland to the neighborhood of Natchez, Jackson County, Mississippi, the valley of the Red River (Natchitoches, Louisiana and Fulton, Arkansas), and to Cherokee County, Texas, and northward to the valley of the Washita River, Arkansas; on the Bermuda and Bahama Islands and on several of the Antilles; most abundant and of its largest size on the south Atlantic and Gulf coasts in sandy swamps and pond holes; the most common woody plant and forming great thickets on the Everglades east of Lake Okeechobee, Florida; in the sandy soil of Pine-barrens and on dry arid hills of the interior, often only a few inches in height, var. pumila Michx.
2. [Myrica inodora] W. Bartr. Wax Myrtle.
Leaves broadly oblong-obovate or rarely ovate, rounded or sometimes pointed and occasionally apiculate at apex, narrowed at base, decurrent on short stout petioles, entire or rarely obscurely toothed toward the apex, thick and coriaceous, glandular-punctate, dark green and very lustrous above, bright green below, 2′—4′ long, ¾′—1½′ wide, with a broad conspicuously glandular midrib slightly pubescent on the lower side, and few remote slender obscure primary veins forked and arcuate near the much-thickened and revolute margins; gradually deciduous from May until midsummer. Flowers in aments ¾′—1′ long, with ovate acute glandular scales; stamens numerous, with oblong slightly emarginate yellow anthers; pistillate flowers usually in pairs, with an ovate glabrous ovary and slender bright red styles. Fruit produced sparingly in elongated spikes, oblong, ⅓′—½′ long, papillose, black, and covered with a thin coat of white wax; seed oblong-oval, acute at apex, rounded at base, ⅛′ long, bright orange-brown, with a pale yellow hilum.