Myrica pensylvanica
Myrica pensylvanica, the northern bayberry, is a species of "Myrica" native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Ohio, and south to North Carolina. It is also classified as Morella pensylvanica. "Myrica pensylvanica" is a deciduous shrub growing to 4.5 m tall. The leaves are 2.5–7 cm long and 1.5-2.7 cm broad, broadest near the leaf apex, serrate, and sticky with a spicy scent when crushed. The flowers are borne in catkins 3–18 mm long, in range of colors from green to red. The fruit is a wrinkled berry 3–5.5 mm diameter, with a  pale blue-purple waxy coating; they are an important food for yellow-rumped warblers. This species has root nodules containing nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, allowing it to grow in relatively poor soils. Taxonomy. This plant is one of several "Myrica" species that are sometimes split into the genus "Morella", e.g. in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Additionally southern bayberry, "M. caroliniensis", and this species are sometimes lumped, disregarding the putative difference that "M. caroliniensis" is evergreen or tardily deciduous. "M. pensylvanica" is similar to wax myrtle, "M. cerifera". These plants' leaves and scent distinguish them: wax myrtle leaves have scent glands  on both sides and are fragrant when crushed, northern bayberry has scent glands mainly on the leaf undersides and is not markedly fragrant. Northern bayberry hybridizes with both southern bayberry and wax myrtle. Uses. The berries can be used to make bayberry wax candles. American colonists boiled the berries to extract the sweet-smelling wax, which they used to make clean-burning candles.