You can get a sample of what pure bayberry candles are like by crushing the leaves, which are lined with tiny yellow resin glands containing the same chemicals responsible for the distinctive fragrance.īotanically, wax myrtles are members of the Myricaceae, or wax myrtle family, and are thus unrelated to most of the other species commonly known as myrtles, such as the crepe myrtle ( Lagerstroemia spp.) and the true myrtle ( Myrtus communis).
Both species earned the moniker “wax myrtle” from the thousands of tiny fruits coated with blueish wax that cling tightly to the branches of female trees, which can be boiled and strained to create a burnable wax for candle-making. These days, most commercially available “bayberry” candles are made with paraffin and other artificial ingredients, but for hundreds of years, wild bayberries-the unusual fruits of the southern wax myrtle-were the only source of the distinctive wax used to manufacture them.Īs their common name suggests, bayberries are native to the coastal plains, growing in dense thickets from Maryland through Texas-the southern counterpart to the northern bayberry ( Myrica pennsylvanica), which runs up the coast of New England. If you love candles, you’re probably familiar with the color and scent of bayberry, a popular decoration in old-fashioned Christmas displays.
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