The genus of bayberries
and wax-myrtles was changed from Myrica to Morella. The four native species plus a dwarf
variety are evergreen. Northern bayberry, Morella
pensylvanica (Mirb.) Kartesz, is the one the pilgrims used to make candles, but we are at
the southern end of where it can be planted, while the others would do okay here,
but not much further north than zone 7. The most
likely to be seen is wax-myrtle, M. cerifera (L.) Small, which is found throughout south
Alabama, and was the first plant covered on the weekly fieldtrip after I added
dendrology to my schedule during drop-add after having missed the first class meetings where they went to the arboretum.
Oddly, even though wax-myrtle has wetland indicator status of neutral facultative
to slightly upland it was virtually within sight of poison sumac, Toxicodendron
vernix (L.) Kuntze., which is an obligate wetland species, and was one of the next species
covered, but it was not seen again until on a quiz where I was the only one that got it
right thus explaining why I didn’t pull off the last intact leaf left when I got a
chance to inspect it, but I digress. The
dwarf wax-myrtle, Myrica cerifera L. var. pumila Michx., is considered synonymous with Morella
cerifera (L.) Small. Southern wax-myrtle, M. caroliniensis (Mill.) Small, is
less frequently encountered in