Myrica gale L.

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Myricaceae

• Scientific Name

  Myrica gale L.

• Description

  Species Description - Freely branched shrub to 1.5 m; lvs deciduous, oblanceolate, 3–6 cm; terminal bud wanting; distal axillary buds floral, the catkins in anthesis before the lvs expand, the staminate cylindric, 1–2 cm, with depressed-triangular bracts, the pistillate ovoid, 8–10 mm, with subrotund bracts; anthers formed in autumn; fruiting catkins 10–12 mm; bractlets 2, persistent, accrescent, becoming much-thickened, clasping and about equaling the flattened, ovate, beaked, glabrous and resinous-dotted achene, 2.5–3 mm, the tips divergent; 2n=48, 80. Swamps and shores; circumboreal, in Amer. s. to N.J., Pa., Mich., Minn., and Oreg., and (disjunct?) in N.C. (Gale palustris)

• Common Names

  sweet gale