![]() ![]() It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under power. It can be grown as full shrub or limbed up to look like multi-trunk tree. Southern Wax Myrtle will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. Wax Myrtle can be used in woodland gardens or shrub borders, as a screen or informal hedge, wetland gardens, habitat restoration or on a bank for erosion control. Once established it is reasonably drought-tolerant and can withstand periodical flooding as well. Requires regular moisture to get established. Wax Myrtle prefers moist, acid soils but is adaptable to other conditions, including wet sites with poor drainage. Wax Myrtles tend to sucker, sometimes forming colonies in optimum growing conditions. Wax Myrtles are tolerant of a wide variety of soil conditions. ![]() They are popular as a fast-growing privacy hedge. It is shrub is also tolerant of high winds and salt spray. Wax Myrtle evergreen shrubs can be grown as a small, multi-trunked tree or shrub. Pale blue berries occur on female plants. Wax Myrtle is a multi-trunked, evergreen shrub, that can reach 20 ft. The smoothish pale gray bark is often covered with lichens.īark of a larger tree, showing horizontally elongated lenticels.Also known as Southern Wax Myrtle, Southern Bayberry. Northern Bayberry is much less common in NC, occuring in dunes from Dare Co. They offer a handsome fine-textured, billowy habit growing quickly to about 10 to 15’ in height but are capable of reaching 25’. The wax may be used to make bayberry candles, though those are usually made from the larger-fruited Northern Bayberry (M. Not only are Wax Myrtles a beautiful native evergreen (large shrub or small tree depending on how you prune it) but they are also tremendously adaptable and easy to grow. The specific epithet cerifera means "wax-bearing" in Latin. ![]() I need a large full shrub, not a tree, lots of trees already. The area is part/filtered sun, little direct sun, mixed woodland edge, medium water and enough space to support a full grown wax myrtle, or something 15-20 wide. The true Myrtle (Myrtus communis) is a European shrub with small, narrow evergreen leaves.įruit detail. Berries for wildlife would be nice but the priority is wildlife cover. The fruits have a waxy coating, which along with the plant's slightly myrtle-like leaves, gives it the common name Wax-Myrtle. One species of bird is named for its stong association with Wax Myrtle on its wintering grounds - the Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coronata coronata). Morella cerifera is still more commonly known by its old name Myrica cerifera. Confusingly, Morella cerifera is also sometimes called Southern Bayberry. Wax Myrtle is also similar to the less abundant (but still common) Southern Bayberry (Morella caroliniensis), but that species has broader leaves with resin glands only on the leaf undersides. It has a low canopy, and is suitable for planting under. The leaves are evergreen, with yellow glands on both the undersides and uppersides, and very fragrant when crushed.ĭetail of leaf underside showing the yellow resin glands.Īlso called Common Wax-myrtle, Morella cerifera is similar to its less common and much smaller sister species Morella pumila (Dwarf Wax-myrtle), which is stoloniferous (spreading by underground runners) and usually grows less than 3 feet tall. Dons Dwarf Southern Wax Myrtle will grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It is also very salt-tolerant (soil and aerosol), making it suitable for seaside applications. Wax Myrtle is uncommon at the edge of its range in the NC Piedmont, but frequently planted and probably escapes from cultivation. Very tough and easily-grown, southern waxmyrtle can tolerate a variety of landscape settings from full sun to partial shade, wet swamplands or high, dry and alkaline areas. Note: The plant is shipped in its pot, firmly. Inconspicuous flowers arrive in spring and transform into clusters of small red to purple. Wax myrtle is the perfect plant for stream banks, lakesides, areas that are prone to flooding and drought. It has narrow, lance-shaped leaves that are glossy and smooth to the touch. Wax Myrtle is an abundant large shrub or small tree in the Coastal Plain, especially at the immediate coast. Pacific Wax Myrtle is a fast growing, large evergreen shrub that functions perfectly as a screen or hedgerow (goodbye invasive laurel). ![]() Plantae>Magnoliophyta>Magnoliopsida>Myricales>Myricaceae>Morella cerifera (L.) Small Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera) ![]()
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