Morella cerifera: Sweet fragrance brightens the night

Morella cerifera, bayberry, is an evergreen tree or shrub native to Central America, the Caribbean and parts of North America including southeast Texas. Bayberry’s scientific name used to be Myrica cerifera. The plant is also known as wax myrtle, southern wax myrtle, candleberry, etc.

In the Myricaceae family, it fixes nitrogen and can grow in poor soil. It is multistemmed, growing 10 to 15 feet high with a spread of 8 to 10 feet. It could be more or less and there are dwarf varieties. The bark is red-brown or gray-brown, sometimes almost white. Bayberry’s alternate leaves grow in a spiral. They are glossy, olive green, toothed and tapered, 1 ½ to 5 inches long and 1 to 2 inches wide. There are small yellow resin dots on both surfaces. When crushed, they have a spicy aromatic odor which can be enjoyed year-round.

Yellow-green flowers bloom from February into summer. Male and female flowers are on different plants, and both are needed for pollination. Once pollinated, the female produces berry-like fruit, drupes, that ripen in fall and persist through winter. They’re at stem junctions, ⅛ inch, grayish white to pale blue because they’re covered in wax. They grow in whorled clusters around the stems.

Leaves and fruit, ground or whole, are used as a spice for broths, as tea, flavoring beer, etc. Bark and roots are harvested in late fall or early winter. They are dried, then chopped or powdered. Astringent, traditional systems use bayberry to treat stomach problems, diarrhea, sore throat, colds, fever, women’s issues, as an external wash for dandruff and other skin conditions, etc. It’s used as a gargle to strengthen gums and for halitosis. Morella cerifera and Myrica cerifera are in the Food and Drug Administration Poisonous Plant Database at fda.gov.

Bayberry has been used to tan leather and dye wool. To repel insects, it was planted around homes and its leaves were put in drawers. However, it is most known for candles made from the wax that covers its fruit. The homes of early settlers were not welllit. Sources for candles were strips of burning resinous wood such as pine and plants or cloth dipped in tallow, animal fat. These sources were smoky and had an unpleasant odor. Also, when settlers first arrived, they had few cattle and sheep.

Bayberry wax is obtained by placing the fruit in boiling water. The wax floats to the top. Four pounds of fruit yields about one pound of wax which makes one fragrant, gray-green, smokeless, long-burning candle that has a clear white flame. The wax has also been used as a wound plaster, in soap, to seal letters, etc. Leaves can be used to infuse other oils.

It’s tradition to burn bayberry candles during the winter holidays. Folklore says burning a bayberry candle on New Year’s Eve brings good luck and that carrying a piece of the plant in your pocket or wallet attracts money.

Deborah Richardson is a freelance reporter for The Examiner with a fondness for flora in its natural setting.