| Myrica gale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Foliage and immature fruit | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Fagales |
| Family: | Myricaceae |
| Genus: | Myrica |
| Species: | M. gale |
| Binomial name | |
| Myrica gale | |
| Synonyms | |
Gale palustris | |
Myrica gale is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae native to parts of Eurasia and North America. Common names include bog-myrtle, [2] sweet willow, Dutch myrtle, [3] and sweetgale. [4]
Myrica gale is a deciduous shrub growing to 1–2 metres (3+1⁄2–6+1⁄2 feet) tall. The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 2–5 centimetres (3⁄4–2 inches) long, oblanceolate with a tapered base and broader tip, and a crinkled or finely toothed margin. The flowers are catkins, with male and female catkins on separate plants (dioecious). The fruit is a small drupe.
Bog-myrtle is distributed throughout parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including Japan, North Korea, Russia, mainland Europe, the British Isles, Canada and the United States. [5]
It typically grows in acidic peat bogs, and to cope with these difficult nitrogen-poor growing conditions, the roots have nitrogen-fixing actinobacteria which enable the plants to grow.
Sweetgale can grow in a narrow band in the intertidal zone, especially if logs have been washed into the estuary on which to establish itself. It is a favorite food of beavers, and low beaver dams can be found in the intertidal zone if sufficient sweetgale is present. The ponds thus formed are often completely submerged at high tide but retain enough water at low tide to provide refuge for fish. If too deep for predation by wading birds, juvenile salmon may flourish. [6]
The foliage has a sweet resinous scent and is a traditional insect repellent, used by campers to keep biting insects out of tents. It is also a traditional component of royal wedding bouquets and is used variously in perfumery and as a condiment.
In Scotland, UK, it has been traditionally used to ward off the Highland midge, [7] and it is marketed as an insect repellent and as an ingredient in some soaps. [8]
Queen Victoria was given a sprig of bog-myrtle which she planted on the Isle of Wight. Her daughter used some of the plant that grew in her wedding bouquet, starting a royal tradition. [9]
The leaves can be dried to make tea, and both the nutlets and dried leaves can be used to make a seasoning. [10]
In north-western Europe (Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands), it was much used in a mixture called gruit as a flavouring for beer from the Middle Ages to the 16th century, but it fell into disuse after hops supplanted gruit herbs for political and economic reasons. [11] [12] In modern times, some brewers have revisited this historic technique and in Denmark and Sweden the plant is commonly used to prepare home-flavoured schnaps. [13]
In some native cultures in Eastern Canada, the plant has been used as a traditional remedy for stomach aches, fever, bronchial ailments, and liver problems.[ citation needed ] "The Creole Doctor", an 1886 article by Lafcadio Hearn, discusses the uses of the plant, known locally as " cirier batard ", in Louisiana creole folk remedies. [14]
In 2007 there were plans to increase production of the plant in Scotland for use as an essential oil for treating sensitive skin and acne. [7] The plant has been listed as an abortifacient and therefore should not be consumed by women who are, or might be, pregnant. [15]
Alders are trees that compose the genus Alnus in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species extending into Central America, as well as the northern and southern Andes.
Alnus rubra, the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America.
Rubus phoenicolasius is an Asian species of raspberry in the rose family, native to China, Japan, and Korea.
Myrica is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, and missing only from Antarctica and Oceania. Some botanists split the genus into two genera on the basis of the catkin and fruit structure, restricting Myrica to a few species, and treating the others in Morella.
Comptonia peregrina is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae native to eastern North America. It is the only extant (living) species in the genus Comptonia, although a number of extinct species are placed in the genus.
Myrica rubra, also called yangmei, yamamomo, Chinese bayberry, red bayberry, yumberry, waxberry, or Chinese strawberry is a subtropical tree grown for its fruit.
Gruit is a herb mixture used for bittering and flavouring beer, popular before the extensive use of hops. The terms gruit and grut ale may also refer to the beverage produced using gruit. Today, however, gruit is a colloquial term applied to a beer seasoned with gruit-like herbs.
Drosera rotundifolia, the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribution, being found in all of northern Europe, much of Siberia, large parts of northern North America, Korea and Japan but is also found as far south as California, Mississippi and Alabama in the United States of America and in New Guinea.
Backhousia citriodora, commonly known as lemon myrtle, lemon scented myrtle or lemon scented ironwood, is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane.
Myrica californica is an evergreen shrub or small tree native to the Pacific Ocean coast of North America from Vancouver Island south to California as far south as the Long Beach area.
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.
Carya glabra, the pignut hickory, is a common, but not abundant species of hickory in the oak-hickory forest association in the Eastern United States and Canada. Other common names are pignut, sweet pignut, coast pignut hickory, smoothbark hickory, swamp hickory, and broom hickory. The pear-shaped nut ripens in September and October, has a sweet maple like smell, and is an important part of the diet of many wild animals. The wood is used for a variety of products, including fuel for home heating. Its leaves turn yellow in the Fall.
Lagerstroemia indica, commonly known as a crape myrtle, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Lagerstroemia of the family Lythraceae. It originated in China. It is an often multi-stemmed, deciduous tree with a wide spreading, flat topped, rounded, or even spike shaped open habit. The tree is a popular nesting shrub for songbirds and wrens.
Myrica cerifera is a small evergreen tree or large shrub native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. Its common names include southern wax myrtle, southern bayberry, candleberry, bayberry tree, and tallow shrub. It has uses in the garden and for candlemaking, as well as a medicinal plant.
A bittering agent is a flavoring agent added to a food or beverage to impart a bitter taste, possibly in addition to other effects. While many substances are bitter to a greater or lesser degree, a few substances are used specifically for their bitterness, especially to balance other flavors, such as sweetness. Notable beverage examples include caffeine, found naturally in tea and coffee and added to many soft drinks, hops in beer, and quinine in tonic water.
Acronicta euphorbiae, the sweet gale moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.
Eubotrys racemosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common names fetterbush, swamp doghobble, and swamp sweetbells.
Myrica inodora is a plant species native to the coastal plains on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, in the Florida Panhandle, the extreme southern parts of Alabama and Mississippi, eastern Louisiana and southwestern Georgia. Common names include scentless bayberry, odorless bayberry, odorless wax-myrtle, waxberry, candleberry, and waxtree. It grows in swamps, bogs, pond edges and stream banks.
Myrica caroliniensis is a shrub or small tree native to the coast and coastal plains of southeastern North America. Its common names include bayberry, southern bayberry, pocosin bayberry, and evergreen bayberry. It sees uses in the garden and for candlemaking, as well as a medicinal plant.
Alnus alnobetula is a common tree widespread across much of Europe, Asia, and North America. Many sources refer to it as Alnus viridis, the green alder, but botanically this is considered an illegitimate name synonymous with Alnus alnobetula subsp. fruticosa.
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