Plant Details

Morella cerifera [= Myrica cerifera]

Wax Myrtle, Southern Bayberry, Candleberry, Tallow Shrub

Scientific Name:	Morella cerifera [= Myrica cerifera]
Genus:	Morella
Species Epithet:	cerifera
Common Name:	Wax Myrtle, Southern Bayberry, Candleberry, Tallow Shrub
Plant Type	Shrub
Life Cycle	Perennial
Plant Family	Myricaceae (Bayberry Family)
Native/Alien:	NC Native
Size:	12-36 ft.
Bloom Color(s):	Green
Light:	Sun - 6 or more hours of sun per day, Part Shade - 2 to 6 hours of sun per day
Soil Moisture:	Moist, Wet
Bloom Time:	April
Growing Area:	Mountains, Piedmont, Sandhills, Coastal Plain
Habitat Description:	“Interdune swales (where often dominant), pocosins, brackish marshes, other wet to moist habitats, now also widely planted (including in the Piedmont) as an ornamental or landscaping shrub” (Weakley 2015). Common in NC Coastal Plain; a rare escape from cultivation in the Mountains and Piedmont.
Leaf Arrangement:	Alternate
Leaf Retention:	Evergreen
Leaf Type:	Leaves veined, not needle-like or scale-like
Leaf Form:	Simple
Life Cycle:	Perennial
Wildlife Value:	Important for Wildlife
Landscape Value:	Recommended and Available
Notes:	"...This popular evergreen ornamental is used for screens, hedges, landscaping, wetland gardens, habitat restoration, and as a source of honey. Essentially a shrub, it serves as an excellent screen plant, with both standard and dwarf varieties available. Because there are separate male and female plants, if you want berries you must have male plants close enough to the berry-producing female plants for pollination to occur. The leaves are aromatic, with an appealing, piquant fragrance when crushed. Colonists separated the fruits waxy covering in boiling water to make fragrant-burning candles, a custom still followed in some countries." Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center
Wax myrtle is commonly a large shrub to small tree. Very attractive to birds in winter. Common on the coast in wet to moist interdune swales, pocosins, and brackish marshes. It persists or naturalizes in suburban woods (Weakley) and is widely used for landscaping. Paynter, 2011
Leaves and buds
Bark with sapsucker holes Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers drill holes in the bark in winter and feed off the sap.
Male (R) and female (L) twigs, showing fruits and staminate catkins still present in winter. Wilmington, January 2012
Fruit
Links:	USDA PLANTS Database Record Bird-Friendly Native Plants