2058
arboretum and frutxcetum.
PART III.
cultivated in England before 1730, as it is included in the HortnsAnglicus , published in that year.
it M. c. 3 pumila Michx. FI. Amer., ii. p. 228., Pursh FI. Amer., Sept., ii. p. 620., has theleaves linear-lanceolate. In the Nouveau Du Hamel, it is suggested that this is only avariation produced by some difference of climate or soil. It is very low, and its leavesare not larger than those of the sweet gale of Europe .
Description, fyc. The American candleberry myrtle is a large evergreenshrub, growing to the height of 12 ft. and upwards, in favourable situations,and forming a thick bush. Its general appearance and habits closely resemblethose of the European species; the leaves are, however, larger, and moreserrated; they are evergreen, and, in M. c. latifolia, greatly resemble thoseof the sweet bay. The nude catkins are axillary and sessile; hut have notthe shining scales of the Afyrica Gale. The fruits are globose drupes, aboutthe bigness of a grain of black pepper; covered with an unctuous substanceas white as snow, which gives them the appearance of a kind of sugar plum.The candleberry myrtle is found in North America , from Virginia to Caro-lina; and the varieties, in New England and Pennsylvania : the species, antiM. c. pumila, often in dry shady woods; while the broad-leaved variety, likethe Afyrica Gale of Europe , delights in wet places about swamps or rivers.A kind of candleberry myrtle is found in Canada ; but it appears to belongto dfyrica Gale, and not to M. cerifera. The principal, if not the only, usemade of the candleberry myrtle, in America , is the collecting from it of itsresinous wax. This substance, according to Duplessy, was formerly procuredby gathering the berries carefully with the stalk attached, and boiling themtill they burst, when the oily matter they contained rose to the surface; it wasthen skimmed off, and set aside to harden, till it became a substance of aboutthe consistence of putty, and of a greenish colour, which was easily blanched,and was readily inflammable when made into candles. A better way is saidto be, pouring boiling water on the berries, by which means a purer wax isextracted, of a pale yellow colour. The candleberry wax is so brittle, that apiece will break if let fall: it may also be reduced to powder, like commonresin. It becomes, however, soft, like common wax, by pressure. Whenmade into candles, it is necessary to mix it with bees’ wax, or a little suet.The water in which the berries were boiled or infused is used to give a greaterdegree of firmness to tallow candles. (Vegetaux Resineux, ii. p. 60.) Culti-vated trees are said to yield more wax than those that are found wild. Thecandles formed of this wax burn long, and yield a grateful smell ( Smith's Con-,of Linn.') ; and they are said to have the advantage of producing an agreeablearomatic fragrance when they are blown out, or otherwise extinguished. Ac-cording to Kalm, a soap is made from the wax, and it is used by surgeonsfor plasters. In Carolina, a kind of sealing-wax is made of it; and the rootis accounted a specific in the toothach. This shrub has been cultivated inEnglish shrubberies since 1699 ; and there are plants of it at the Duke ofDevonshire’s villa at Chiswick , and at various other placos in the neighbour-hood of London, from 6 ft. to 8 ft. high. In France and Germany , it has beencultivated with a view to its producing wax; and it is said to thrive in sandypeat, rather moist, and to produce an abundant crop of berries every year. InPrussia, it has been cultivated in a garden on the banks of the Spree, nearBerlin, in lat. 52° 53'; which is nearly 1J degree farther north than London ,but where the mean annual temperature is 2° 9' higher than London ; andwax and candles have been made from the fruit. It has been suggestedby Dr. Hamilton (Card. Mag., vol. i. p. 403.), that it might be cultivated forthe same purpose in high sandy wastes in Hampshire , and other parts in thesouth of England.
App. i. Half-hardy Species ofM.yrlca, cultivated hi BritishGardens.
M. Faya Ait. Hort. Kew., ed. 1., 3. p. 397., N. Du Ham., 2. p. 194., Lodd. Cat. , ed. 1836, and ourJig. 1969.; the Azores Candleberry Myrtle; has the leaves elliptic-lanceolate, somewhat serrate. Malecatkins compound. Drupe with a4-celled nucleus. ( Willd. Sp. PL, iv. p. 747.) An evergreen shrub,