Northern Bayberry   An Urban Tolerant Plant

Myrica pensylvanica
Common Name: Bayberry

Native Shrub

Handsome shrub in all seasons. Deciduous to semi-evergreen. Medium to dark green, alternate, obovate, and sparsely serrated on the upper half of some leaves.

Bayberry is one of the most versatile of landscape shrubs, equally at home in mass plantings, mixed borders, or informal foundation plantings where it combines well with evergreens.

Thrives in any ordinary garden soil. Drought tolerant. Grows in dry or wet sterile soil; pine barrens, pine-oak forests, old fields, bogs, edges of streams, ponds, and swamps, and coastal dunes. Tolerant of salt spread on roads.

Although the plant prefers acid and neutral soils, it can grow in very acid and saline soils and is extremely adaptable to heavy (clay) soils, light (sandy) soils, poor soils, dry or wet soils, soils of various pH.

It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade.

Low, brushy stature provides concealment for ground-dwelling wildlife.

 

There are no serious disease or pest problems.

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Culture
Sun to partial shade. Tolerates any soil. Prefers acid and neutral soils. 

If semi-evergreen Winter foliage is desired, place in a wind-sheltered site, but if nearly deciduous foliage is desired (to enhance the showy berries on female or monoecious plants), put in a more exposed site to encourage leaf abscission.

Specimen plantings can gradually be limbed up into multitrunked tree form, if desired.

 

Use / Habitat

Informal Hedge

Woodland Garden

Group or mass plantings

Embankments

Privacy screens

Plant often used in poor soil, sandy soil, wet soil, dry soil, or Winter salt spray sites. 

Height
5 - 10 feet

 

Spread
5 - 10 feet

Color
Alternate, simple, lustrous dark green leaves with a leathery texture; 1.5 to 4" long . Non-showy flowers April to May; male and female plants; female plants yield small, gray, waxy-coated round drupe that  ripen in October and persists into winter .

US Nativity
Native

 

More Info

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Characteristics & Attributes

Sun Light Requirement
    Full Sun
    Medium Sun / Semi-Shade
    Shade
Soil Moisture Requirements
    Dry
    Moderate
    Prefers Moist
   Wet
Growth Rate
    Fast
    Moderate
    Slow
Tolerance
    Alkaline Soil
    Acid Soil
    Dry Sites
    Wet Sites
    Wind
   Soil Compaction

 

Uses
    Specimen / Ornamental
    Massing
    Border
    Hedge
    Barrier / Screen
    Naturalized Areas
    Erosion Control 
Special Uses
    Wildlife
    Wetland
    Ground Cover
    Erosion Control / Stabilization
    Fragrant
    Cut Flowers
    Medicinal
Nature Attracting
    Butterfly
    Hummingbird
    Songbirds
    Game Birds
    Cecropia Moth


Wildlife Benefit
   Cover
    Nesting
    Food/Birds
    Food/Animals
    Moth Host (see below*)
    Butterfly Nectar

 Larval Host: the beautiful cecropia moth feeds on bayberry as a caterpillar.

Additional Notes

Foliage, stems, and berries are bayberry-scented when crushed, rubbed, or bruised

The waxy-coated fruit and nutlet seed are eaten by many birds, including bluebird, catbird, meadowlark, thrashers, and vireos.

The shrub suckers and forms colonies; fixes atmospheric nitrogen into the soil; 

The plant is very wind hardy and can be grown as an informal hedge.

Edible: Fruit - raw or cooked. The fruit is about 4mm in diameter and contains a single large seed. There is very little edible flesh and this is of poor quality. The leaves and fruit are used as a food flavoring in soups etc. A bay leaf substitute, imparting a delicate aroma and subtle flavor. The herb is removed before the food is served.

Other Uses: A wax covering on the fruit is extracted by scalding the fruit with boiling water and immersing them for a few minutes, the wax floats to the surface and is then skimmed off. The fruit is then boiled in water to extract the wax from the pulp and once more the wax is skimmed off. It is then strained through a muslin cloth and can be used to make aromatic candles. Candles made from this wax are quite brittle but are less greasy in warm weather. They are slightly aromatic, with a pleasant balsamic odor, and do not smoke when put out, making them much more pleasant to use that wax or tallow candles. 

The wax is also used in making soaps. 

A green dye is obtained from the leaves.

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