42 - Myricaceae
from Division 5 - Magnoliophyta
Summary
Deciduous, monoecious or dioecious trees. Leaves alternate, simple, dotted with resinous glands, aromatic, without stipules. Flowers unisexual. Male flowers solitary in the axils of bracts and forming catkins, without a perianth or bracteoles; stamens 2–16; filaments free or united below. Female flowers with a bract and 2 or more bracteoles; style short; stigmas 2, filiform. Ovary 1-celled; ovule one. Fruit a drupe or nut; embryo straight; seeds without endosperm.
Consists of 3 genera and about 50 species, cosmopolitan.
Myrica L.
Deciduous, usually dioecious shrubs, but plants may change sex from year to year. Leaves alternate, strongly aromatic, without stipules. Flowers unisexual, in catkins, solitary in the axil of a bract. Male flowers solitary in the axils of bracts and forming catkins, without a perianth or bracteoles. Female flowers with a bract and 2 bracteoles. Fruit a drupe or nut.
Contains about 35 species, cosmopolitan except for central and southern Europe, North Africa, south-west Asia and Australia.
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- Flora of Great Britain and Ireland , pp. 317 - 318Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2018