Tree Description:
A shrub or small, multi-trunked tree to 20 feet tall and a trunk to 6" in diameter, with an open crown of light green foliage.
Range/Site Description:
Streambanks, swamps, and seasonally wet areas in East Texas. Also used extensively as a landscape shrub or tree for parking lots, commercial, and residential landscapes throughout East and Central Texas.
Leaf:
Simple, alternate, 2" to 4" long and 0.5" to 0.75" wide, obovate, with a few sharp teeth along the upper half of the leaf margin. Leaves are evergreen, light green in color, and shiny above.
Flower:
Male and female flowers on separate trees. Male flowers appear along the twigs in spring as short, 0.5"long, yellowish catkins; female flowers similare in size and shape to the male flowers, but reddish.
Fruit:
A round, light green drupe, about 0.1" to 0.2" in diameter, clustered along the twigs, each fruit covered with a thick coating of whitish wax.
Bark:
Smooth, gray, blotched on older trunks, developing shallow fissures on only the largest trunks.
Wood:
Bayberry candles are made from the wax; the bark and leaves reportedly have medicinal properties. Also used extensively as a landscape shrub or small tree.
Similar Species:
Possumhaw (Ilex decidua) loses its leaves in the fall and has dull teeth (or none) along the leaf margins.
Interesting Facts:
Waxmyrtle or bayberry leaves cann be used for seasoning meats, sauces, soups, stews and as a tea. The fruits have can be used for making candles for the wax and fragrance.
