Ripe Wax Myrtle Berries
Myrica cerifera: A Tree That Makes Scents
Wax Myrtle was the Indians’ minimart of the forest.
Need some spice? Drop by the Wax Myrtle tree. How about a little something for the peace pipe? Drop by the Wax Myrtle tree. Are the mosquitoes bothering you? Drop by the Wax Myrtle tree. Want to see a Tachycineta bicolor? Drop by the Wax Myrtle. Tree Swallows in winter love it, eating the berries in a whirlwind. If you’re a birder other winged-ones that like the high-energy berries include the Bobwhite, Wild Turkey, Wablers, Vireos, Kinglets and the tiny Carolina Wren, which is more tail than bird.
Native Indians used the leaves for seasoning as we would a bay leaf. The berries were used for seasoning as well but sparingly as they are waxy. Grind them and use like pepper. Though used as a seasoning, that was not the wax myrtle’s main value: The berries when boiled yield a wax that is excellent for making candles. Indeed, that is reflected in the tree’s name Myrica cerifera, MEER-ih-kuh ser-IF-er-uh.
Cerifera means “wax bearing going back to the Greek word Keri for the small bees wax candles used in church services. Myrica is Greek myrike (μυρίκη) which was the Greek name for the “tamarisk” a tree that is aromatic like the wax myrtle. The aroma of the wax myrtle’s leaves can keep mosquitos away. Rub the leaves on you. The natives smoked the leaves for the same reason.
Also called the bayberry, as in Bayberry candle, the tree was used extensively by the Indians for a variety of ways including as a pain killer, a pick-me-up, a diuretic, emetic, febrifuge, tonsil gargle, for headaches, stomach aches, to kill worms and for dysentery.
And least you think your life has not been touched by the wax myrtle, its leaves are used to improve the foaming of beer. Think of that the next time you enjoy a stein of suds.
Although the berries are strong, they can be eaten fresh off the tree. They can be preserved or even made into a wine. If you don’t have a M. cefera near you don’t despair. There are others in North America and around the world of various uses. In fact some in Asia and Africa had edible leaves. M. gale fruit and leaves have been used to flavor soups, stews, roasted meats, and seafood. They have also been used for tea. When used to help beer foam the brew is often called Gale Beer. M. californica, M. heterophylla, M. pensylvanica, M. pusilla, and M. rubra have also been used like the M. cefera.
Southerners liked the Myrica (MEER-ik-uh) so much they changed Myrica to miracle and call it the Miracle Bush.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile
IDENTIFICATION: Large shrub to small tree, depending on climate, to 10 or 15 feet, six to nine feet across. Olive to gray-green alternate leaves, simple, half an inch to 1.5 inches long. to half inch wide, bayberry scent when crushed. Leaves are smooth on top, hairy below with orange scent glands on both sides. Berries in attached clusters to stems and branches, fall through winter, BB size, light green to bluish-white strong bayberry scent.
TIME OF YEAR: Leaves year round, berries in the fall and winter
ENVIRONMENT: New Jersey to Florida, west to Arkansas and Texas and down in to Central America. It will grow under almost any conditions. It makes a nice bush for xeroscaping as it needs no attention. It can be planted as far north as Rhode Island. Tolerant of salt spray and wind. First cultivated in 1699
METHOD OF PREPARATION: Leaves as is for seasoning, berries ground like pepper. Berries boil to collect wax. Most herbal applications use the bark of the root. The leaves have been used to smoke mullet.
Hey Deane, got any leads to a reliable source for the medicinal use of the plant?I use the leaves every time I go hunting, not only as a mosquito repellent but also as a cover scent seems to work quite well, just don’t expect Florida skeeters to be turned off by a lil wax myrtle,you gotta use alot of crushed leaves. But I am interested in the medicinal uses of the roots if you have any recipes I’d like to hear about em thanks.
Mix a little gator fat with that ( or even by itself). NOTHING likes it. Somebody is commercial farm or trapping for the area. If you find someone in your area, text wilkersonjames176@ google.com. Used to have a farm up here in S Ga but it’s gone now. Hint: last stand of the Seminole before treaties, Waycross, Ga.
I would love to know some of the medicinal uses of the tree. i heard that you can use it to treat ecxema and nail fungus by making tea with the leaves. I’d like to know how to use it for headaches and what part would the indians smoke for their peace pipes
Hi Green Deane – Thanks for sharing your thoughts about Myrica cerifera. I appreciate your writing style. Lots of important information in an enjoyable presentation. 😀
Hi,
I understand this could be known as bayberry bark powder, but i understood Myrtle only grew on west coast + Israel? If it is the same it is great for tooth powder mixed w/equal parts salt, myrrh, echinacea powder, cinnamon bark.
What ya think? thanks kara
Would these plants also be growing in parts of Louisiana?
Should be…
I just want to add that this shrub has male and female bushes (the ones with the berries). To encourage berry pollination, plant male and female bushes near one another.
That’s good information. Thanks, I learned something new today.
I started studying these myself today (Jan 2017). Noticed some gorgeous berries in my neighborhood with red casings on them. Picked a few, removed the red casings and enjoyed nibbling them. Could tell that the essential oils in them are gorgeous!!!! and certainly contain anti-microbial qualities as they mimic many EOs we purchase.
Now — getting to my question. don’t you think that those with the red casings on them are “best”? I have a personal theory that the “best” things in life are very attractive in many dimensions & also don’t cause harm. I think that those with the red casings are the “best” and ripest, being “prettiest”, but also containing maximum EOs and fats, just that we don’t see many of them and have to substitute those with the red casings removed.
What do you think of my theory?
Thanks for writing. I don’t recall red casings on Way Myrtle berries. But the Brazilian Pepper is in fruit now. It’s an iffy tree. Some can use the fruit and some cannot. Some species of Wax Myrtle do have red berries but not locally as far as I know.
Also… berries often are a color to attract a certain seed scatterer. Also, the outside of a fruit or seed often has the strongest chemicals to dissuade creatures the plant does not want touching/spreading the seeds.
Interestingly, I studied more and had to rush back here! Sadly, the red casings were definitely the pepper ones! I walked all around for an hour or so trying to find more red ones, finally finding a bunch. This time it was clear to me. Crazy! I thought it so amusing that I could enjoy the feel and taste so much, believing it was a very ripe “good for me fruit”. Now that I know it’s the noxious Brazilian pepper, nary another fruit will grace my lips even if I found them pleasing at first. Did also gain a much better understanding of the flowering/fruiting process as I found a handful of each stage. Will watch and collect some optimally ripe ones for a candle & to try the wax in lip & body balms, something that’s been on my to do list for many years.
Thanks for your fast response. So appreciate it.
Glad it worked out okay.
Are the leaves or BERRIES toxic to dogs?
I don’t know but have not heard of that… then again, how many leaves and berries are being consumed?
I would collect bay myrtle in Connecticut when I lived on the shore, and had several special spots to go find it. I had it on the edge of disturbed ground, in the woods, and also along roadsides. Of course along the beaches. I am in Ohio now, and miss it so much. I collected stems with leaves to dry and its a secret ingredient for my soups and savory rubs for meats and roasts. Now that I don’t know where to find it, I substitute rosemary; it has that same evergreen tang and golly I miss it. Any clues about finding it away from the ocean, lol?
Where are you located?I have a pond in my backyard and they’re growing like crazy back there
Thank you for this fascinating and fun information. I posted your article on my facebook timeline.
I use it for cooking sometimes. I use the leaves and dry them first in an oven set to 150°. I usually put them through the spice grinder and keep them in an old spice jar so that I have them on demand. They have a sweetish, marjoram- or bay-like flavor that works well in barbecue or savory tomato soups.
The number one reason to grow them, however, is to lure ruby-crowned kinglets to your garden in the wintertime. These birds are scarcely bigger than hummingbirds. The males have a clump of red feathers on the tops of their heads that is mostly unseen, but which they poke up from time to time. On really cold mornings, they will huddle in clumps of 20 or mores, all shivering vigorously to keep warm.
Also, these plants are dioecious, so buy one with berries on it to make sure you get a female. If you can’t find a female one at a nursery, pull up a sucker from a wild one on a cool, wet day—they transplant easily.
Any idea how to protect our wax myrtles? We’re losing them to the deer!! In Baldwin County (east shore of Mobile Bay) Alabama, we are having the worst time keeping the deer from breaking the wax myrtle shrubs off at the ground along our patio. The shrubs are fledgling, only about 2 years old, and constantly assaulted at nighttime. The largest survivng shrub is not even waist level.
Oh well, the deer are enjoying themselves, and the deer were here first. They will be rutting in a few months and that’s when they rub the bark so hard that they snap off whole sections of shrub at a time. I think they twist and snap off the base which is about same diameter as adult thumb. We started with 15 shrubs in 2017. We are down to 8 this summer. Boo-hoo!
Judy look on youtube for Sepp Holzer bone sauce. Its supposed to keep everything from eating what its painted on. Homemade also and non toxic. The fragrance is not pretty but it wears off with time.
Hey Dean, any idea what is nutrient profile of seeds and leafs?
I think what you posted made a lot of sense. But,
what about this? what if you were to create a killer headline?
I am not saying your information isn’t good., but suppose you added a title that
grabbed a person’s attention? I mean Wax Myrtle Jewels – Eat The
Weeds and other things, too is a little boring. You could
look at Yahoo’s front page and note how they create post
headlines to grab people to open the links. You might add a
video or a related picture or two to grab readers interested about
everything’ve got to say. Just my opinion, it might bring your posts a
little bit more interesting.
I have no interest in lying headlines.That is for sites with little useful content. I think if one give people substance one does not need trickery, or SEOs et cetera.