Branches are reddish brown.
The flowers, inconspicuous stiff spikes, develop before the leaves. Sweet gale grows in bogs, swamps, shallow water, and along streams. It occurs south of the 67th parallel in North America and in Eurasia. Von Schantz and Kapetanidis published an analysis of the composition of the essential oil of leaves from a population of Myrica gale from Finland. Its root bark is astringent, tonic, alterative, cholagogue, diuretic, and aromatic.