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Wax myrtles are an excellent choice for the Florida yard, especially coastal areas. Also called Southern bayberry, its name derives from the waxy berries, which were once harvested to make bayberry candles. Today, the wax myrtle is better appreciated for its easy care and salt tolerance.
Sometimes called Southern bayberry, wax myrtle was used by early American colonists to make bayberry candles from the fruit's waxy, bluish coating. The foliage is also aromatic. Commonly used as a hedge or privacy screen, this fast-growing shrub can also be grown as a tree.
These days, most commercially available “bayberry” candles are made with paraffin and other artificial ingredients, but for hundreds of years, wild bayberries—the unusual fruits of the southern wax myrtle—were the only source of the distinctive wax used to manufacture them.
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. Its leaves are alternate, simple, narrowly oblanceolate and toothed at the apices (tips).
7 lis 2020 · A popular ornamental, Wax Myrtle has attractive evergreen foliage, is a fast grower, and responds well to pruning. Its leaves and fruit smell like bayberry when crushed. Wax myrtle is a Florida Native Plant which can and has been used as a source of wax for bayberry candles.
5 lis 2015 · Four pounds of its berries will yield one pound of wax for candle making. When processed, this wax was also used in surgeon’s soap, shaving lather, and sealing wax. Fermented leaves were used to produce a substance which was said to treat fever, stomach aches, and headaches.
14 lut 2024 · Also known as bayberry, wax myrtle grows in low-lying areas along the edges of wetlands. It is a fast grower and will fill in open spaces if there is enough available light. Wax myrtle is a hardy plant, highly tolerant of salt, and works well in pollinator gardens and urban locations.
