Please note: Wax Myrtle has a high flammability fire risk rating - the leaves, stems, and branches contain flammable aromatic compounds. Wax Myrtle pairs well with Cabbage Palm ( Sabal palmetto), Dahoon Holly ( Ilex cassine), Sawgrass ( Cladium jamaicensis), Muhly Grass ( Muhlenbergia capillaris), Beard Grass ( Andropogon virginicus), Saltbush ( Baccharis halimifolia), and Myrsine ( Myrsine cubana). (For more examples, please search this database.) Modern medicine recently demonstrated that Wax Myrtle has compounds that exhibit cytotoxic activities against leukemia, lung and breast cancer cell lines. Micmac used roots to treat inflammations. Koasati used a root decoction to treat stomachaches. As examples, Choctaw used a decoction of leaves and stems to treat fevers and a decoction of roots to treat inflamed roots. Native peoples used various parts of the plant for medicinal purposes. Leaves can also be used to flavor soups and stews and to make tea. Berries are edible and leaves are purported to make an excellent insect repellant. Wax Myrtle berries have been used for hundreds of years to make bayberry candles, soaps, and sealing wax. Additionally, Wax Myrtle is a caterpillar food source for Red-banded Hairstreaks, Bayberry Leaftier Moths, Cecropia Moths, Io Moths, Polyphemus Moths, and the Little Wife Underwing Moths.
Its seeds are an important food for tree sparrows and Carolina wrens. Its silvery-gray fruit is an energy-rich food source for more than 40 species of birds, including the Northern Bobwhite, Wild Turkey, and the Yellow-rumped (“Myrtle”) Warbler in the late fall and winter. This plant’s tiny, fragrant white flowers provide nectar for bees and butterflies in spring.
#Wax myrtle bush full#
(Plants grown in full sun will be denser than those grown in shade.) It can also tolerate some salt-spray, hurricane-strength winds, soil moisture levels that range from very wet to very dry (once established) and shade. Wax Myrtle consequently tolerates poor soils extremely well. The plant is symbiotic with bacteria that fixes nitrogen from air. The shrub is clonal and spreads via underground runners in its native habitats, In landscaped areas, Wax Myrtle can be pruned and maintained as a privacy hedge. Found along the Coastal Plain from southern New Jersey to Florida and west along the Gulf Coastal Plain to eastern Texas and southeast Oklahoma, Wax Myrtle is an early successional species that is highly adaptable to a range of conditions: it can be found growing in fresh to slightly brackish banks and shores pine flatwoods marshes wet prairies hammocks swamps and dry xeric uplands. A gargle made from the leaves and bark is said to relieve a sore throat.Wax Myrtle ( Morella cerifera) is an erect, multi-trunked evergreen understory shrub.
#Wax myrtle bush skin#
Medicinally the leaves have been used to treat a variety of ailments such as stomach ulcers, skin ulcers, and colds. Its leaves are alternate, simple, narrowly oblanceolate and toothed at the apices (tips). Wax myrtle can be found growing in a wide variety of habitats throughout Florida including coastal areas, pine savannahs, cypress swamps, wet hammocks, bogs, upland hammocks, old fields, and fence rows. The national champion is in Bradenton, Florida and has a 3 foot trunk circumference, is 28 feet in height and has a 33 foot spread.
It is clonal forming and produces thickets. It commonly produces multiple trunks and sends out runners that produce new plants.
Wax myrtle ( Morella cerifera) can reach 25 feet in height at maturity. Wax myrtle is an aromatic evergreen shrub, in the Myricaceae or bayberry family.
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