Pacific Wax Myrtle Tree
Wax myrtle is very easy to grow.
Pacific wax myrtle tree. Clean glossy foliage is accented by purple fruit a valued food source for birds. In others falling branches or uprooted trees injure nearby horses. That said established plants will also tolerate moist to soggy soil conditions. It can also be pruned into an attractive small tree.
The pacific wax myrtle is still mostly known in the trade as myrica californica. It is native to the coast and coastal valleys from the santa monica mountains to vancouver island and is without a doubt one of the most versatile best looking and truly adaptable large natives for sonoma county gardens. Ideal natural windbreak screen or clipped hedge. Myrica cerifera is a small evergreen tree or large shrub native to north and central america and the caribbean.
Include the wax myrtle tree in your natural or wildlife friendly area. Grayish white clusters of fruit with a bluish waxy coating remain on the plant throughout the winter in usda zones 7 9 where the growing wax myrtle is hardy. Morella californica cham wilbur. The pacific wax myrtle s dense bushy form rapid growth and glossy green leaves make it a popular shrub for screening.
Myrica californica pacific wax myrtle this california native is a vigorous multi branched evergreen shrub reaching up to about 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide easily kept smaller. When young it prefers a consistently moist soil but established plants are exceptionally drought tolerant. They are small with a greenish tint. Flowers appear in spring.
This fast growing versatile native shrub adds vertical interest and shade to the landscape with little care. Its common names include southern wax myrtle southern bayberry candleberry bayberry tree and tallow shrub it sees uses both in the garden and for candlemaking as well as a medicinal plant. The wax myrtle growth rate is fast and the shrub can grow as much as 5 feet per year notes clemson. In some cases fruit or nut bearing trees contribute to colics when horses gorge on their produce.
As praiseworthy as trees are there are a few situations where horses and trees don t mix. It adapts to most any soil of average fertility to poor soils. Fruit of the wax myrtle tree is an important source of food for birds in the winter. Morella is probably derived from morus the latin name for mulberry giving it a literal meaning of.
Pacific wax myrtle the bayberry family myricaceae.