What is Waxmyrtle (Wax Myrtle) ? (definition)

Waxmyrtle (Wax Myrtle)

What does Waxmyrtle mean? Waxmyrtle (Wax Myrtle) is also known as Southern bayberry or candleberry because early American colonists used the fruit's pale blue, waxy covering to make fragrant bayberry candles. This custom is still carried out today by crafts people here and in other countries.

The tree's distinctive, fragrant scent comes from volatile oils contained in tiny glands on the leaves. These oils cause waxmyrtle to ignite in a flash in a fire, making wax myrtle a very flammable plant!

Twigs and leaves

Waxmyrtle is a popular landscape tree and is often grown as a dense hedge for natural screening.

Waxmyrtle is important for wildlife that depends on the persistent fruits for fat and fiber in their winter diet. Birds, such as wild turkey, bob-white quail, various waterfowl, catbirds, thrashers, bluebirds, vireos, and warblers are all frequent visitors to wax myrtle thickets. The berries are the main food for wintering tree swallows in Florida. Wildlife is the primary disperser of waxmyrtle seeds.

Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera Linnaeus)

The southern bayberry, candleberry, or wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera Linnaeus) is native to the coastal plain from eastern Texas across to Florida and north to New Jersey. Wax myrtle is a large shrub with aromatic foliage often growing in thickets at the edge of moist to wet woodlands. It is closely related to the northern bayberry (Myrica caroliniensis Miller).

Bayberries have long been a source of wax.