MYRICA, in botany, candleberry myr tle, a genus of the Dioecia Tetrandria class and order. Natural order of Amen tacez, Jussieu. Essential character : ament with a crescent-shaped scale ; co rolla none ; female, styles two; berry one-seeded. There are nine species, of which M. gale, sweet-gale, sweet-willow, or candleberry myrtle, rises with many shrubby stalks, from two to four feet in height, dividing into several slender branches : the buds are composed of nine leafy, shining scales ; leaves alternate, an inch and a half in length ; they have a bit ter taste, and an agreeable odour, like those of myrtle. The flowers appear be fore the leaves, at the ends of the branch es ; as soon as the fructification is com pleted, the end of the branch dies, the leaf-buds, which are on the sides, shoot out, and the stems become compound; the fruit is a coriaceous berry ; the male and female amenta are sometimes on dis tinct plants, and sometimes on the same individual. The northern nations former ly used this plant instead of hops, and it is still in use for that purpose in some of the western isles; unless it is boiled a long time, it is reported to occasion the head ach. The catkins, or cones, boiled in
water, throw up a scum resembling bees' wax, and which, gathered in sufficient quantities, would make candles. From M. cerifera, American candleberry myr tle, candles are prepared in America ; it is also used in tanning calf skins; gather ed in autumn, it will die wool yellow, for which purpose it is used both in Sweden and in Wales ; the Welsh lay branches of it upon and under their beds, to keep off fleas and moths. In most of the Hebrides, and in the Highlands of Scotland, an in fusion of the leaves is frequently given to children to destroy worms. When it grows within reach of a port, the sailors make besoms of it for sweeping their ships. Native of the northern parts of Europe and North America.