Common Name: WAX MYRTLE FAMILY
Habit: Shrub, small tree, generally aromatic, evergreen or deciduous; generally monoecious or dioecious; roots generally with nitrogen-fixing bacteria; hairs generally both nonglandular, thread-like and glandular, peltate. Leaf: simple, alternate, entire to pinnately lobed, resin-dotted; stipules generally 0. Inflorescence: spike, catkin-like, axillary; staminate, pistillate separate. Flower: generally unisexual, small; perianth generally 0. Staminate Flower: subtended by 1 bract, 0 [1--4] bractlets. Pistillate Flower: subtended by 1 bract, 2 or 4--6[3(8)] bractlets; ovary superior [to +- inferior], ovule 1, style 1, stigmas 2, short. Fruit: generally drupe or nut-like, small, rough or smooth, waxy or not, sometimes winged or bur-like from fused bractlets.
Genera In Family: 4 genera, +- 45 species: generally temperate, subtropics fruit of some Morella boiled to make fragrant wax. Note: Myrica as treated in TJM (1993) split into 2 genera based on Wilbur 1994 Sida 16:93--107.
Unabridged Note: Comptonia of eastern North America, Canacomyrica of New Caledonia each have 1 sp.; Myrica has 2 species
eFlora Treatment Author: Allan J. Bornstein
Scientific Editor: Thomas J. Rosatti.