Last updated: January 29, 2025
Place
Nightingale Trail - Stop 10 Wax Myrtle
NPS photo
Quick Facts
Location:
30.75435N 81.46383W
Wax Myrtle “Myrica cerifera”
This plant is located to the right of the marker. The toothed, evergreen leaves of this shrub are smaller near the tips of the twigs and are aromatic. In the forest, the leaves are thin but in the dune meadows where it is exposed to sun, wind, and salt spray, its leaves are smaller and leathery. Also known as Bayberry, female plants have small bluish berries covered with wax which is used to make fragrant candles. The berries are eaten by over 30 species of songbirds. Twigs and foliage are browsed by deer.
Bracken Fern “Pteridium aquilinum” is seen throughout the ground level. It spreads by underground rhizomes and its dead fronds persist throughout the winter. The fiddleheads were gathered in the springtime and eaten.
This plant is located to the right of the marker. The toothed, evergreen leaves of this shrub are smaller near the tips of the twigs and are aromatic. In the forest, the leaves are thin but in the dune meadows where it is exposed to sun, wind, and salt spray, its leaves are smaller and leathery. Also known as Bayberry, female plants have small bluish berries covered with wax which is used to make fragrant candles. The berries are eaten by over 30 species of songbirds. Twigs and foliage are browsed by deer.
Bracken Fern “Pteridium aquilinum” is seen throughout the ground level. It spreads by underground rhizomes and its dead fronds persist throughout the winter. The fiddleheads were gathered in the springtime and eaten.