Botanical Name: Morella californica
Common Name: Pacific Wax Myrtle
Bayberry–Family Myricaceae
Plant Type: Broad leaf Evergreen
Water use: Moderate -High
Growth: moderate rate to 10-30 feet (3-10m) tall and wide
Habitat:Usually occurs in wetlands but occasionally occurs in non-wetlands.
Characters: The leaves of Pacific Wax Myrtle are a bright, glossy green with black dots, pleasantly aromatic, pointed at the tip, with occasional teeth along the margins. The flowers are tiny, but the fruit is attractive in clusters of dark purple, bumpy berries.
Native Plant: Yes
Firewise: Yes
Attributes: The leaves of Myrica californica have a spicy aroma that can be used like bay leaves to season food, hence the plant is often referred to as California Bayberry.
Uses In the Landscape: The Pacific Wax Myrtle is our best native shrub for screening. Several can be trimmed into a hedge or it can be mixed with other evergreens to create an informal screen. Wax Myrtle also is able to fix-nitrogen in association with the bacteria, making this shrub especially useful for habitat restoration in soils with low fertility
Bloom Period: May-June.
Fruit ripens November. Used by Wildlife:The fruit is eaten by many kinds of birds, most notably the “Myrtle” (Yellow-rumped) Warbler, but only in small quantities.
Use by People: Although Pacific Wax Myrtle is related to the Northern Bayberry, attempts at boiling the fruit to extract wax produces so little, to make it hardly worthwhile. A gray-brown or maroon-purple dye may be obtained from the berries. Although the wood is reported to be heavy, very hard, strong, brittle and close-grained, this species is different than the Oregon Myrtlewood, Umbellularia californica, (AKA California Bay Laurel) used for artistic endeavors found in gift shops all along the Oregon coast.
Propagation: Seeds collected in fall should be abraded or soaked in warm water to remove the waxy coating; they then require 3 months stratification at 40ºF (4ºC). Heel cuttings of half-ripe wood in July or August reportedly have fair to good success. Layering in the spring is the quickest method.
Larval Host to:
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Banded Hairstreak
Photo Credit: Megan McCarty, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
Red-banded Hairstreak
Photo Credit: John Flannery from Richmond County, North Carolina, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons |
http://nativeplantspnw.com/pacific-wax-myrtle-morella-californica/
Report provided by: Lynn Kunstman, Jackson County, Oregon Master Gardener and Wildlife Management
Posted by: Carlotta Lucas, AGC Board Member
