bayberry

bayberry

English

bog myrtle (Myrica gale) a species of bayberry (Myricaceae)

Wikispecies

Etymology

From bay +‎ berry.

Noun

bayberry (plural bayberries)

1. (Canada, US) The fruit of the wax myrtle shrub; or the plant itself (Morella cerifera), with aromatic, leathery leaves and waxy berries.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

   1. Other species in the family Myricaceae, especially in genus Myrica; bay-rum tree, candleberry.
      • 2002, James Fralish and Scott Franklin, Taxonomy and Ecology of Woody Plants in North American Forests‎, Myricaceae (Bayberry or Wax-Myrtle Family), page 230:

        The two North American genera are Myrica (bayberry) and Comptonia (sweet-fern).

2. The fruit of the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis).
   • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographica, XLIII:

     [T]heir shape was much like a Figg, but very much smaller, some being about the bigness of a Bay-berry, others, and the biggest, of a Hazel-Nut.

3. West Indian bay tree (Pimenta racemosa), a tropical American shrub with aromatic leaves that are used in the preparation of bay rum.

Synonyms

• (Morella cerifera): wax myrtle
• (species in the family Myricaceae): candleberry, wax myrtle

Derived terms

• Asian bayberry (Nageia nagi)
• bayberry tallow (Myrica cerifera)
• bayberry waxtree (Myrica cerifera)
• bayberry willow (Salix myricoides)
• California bayberry (Myrica californica)
• Chinese bayberry (Morella rubra, syn. Myrica rubra)
• faya bayberry (Myrica faya)
• Japanese bayberry (Morella rubra)
• northern bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
• red bayberry (Morella rubra)
• scentless bayberry (Myrica inodora)
• Sierra bayberry (Myrica hartwegii)
• southern bayberry (Myrica caroliniensis, Myrica cerifera)