Myrica gale : Sweet Gale

Scientific Name:

Kingdom: Plantae

Division:

• Tracheophyta (vascular)
• Spermatophyta (seed bearing)
Angiospermae (enclosed seed)

Class: Dicoteldonae (two seed-leaves)

Family: Myricaceae (Wax-myrtle Family)

Genera: Myrica (Wax-myrtle) (Myrica=a name for Venus; Or Lat. murio=to flow, referring to it's habitat.)

Species: gale (OldEng. gagel=sweet gale)

English Name(s):

Sweet Gale, Bayberry, Bog Myrtle

First Nation Names:

Description:

Shrubs

Plants are dioecious (by-sexual).

Flowers small, not showy, imperfect (unisexual), in catkins.

Natural History:

Family Size:

World:

Genera: ?

Species: ?

North America:

Genera: ?

Species: ?

Yukon:

Genera: 1

Species: 1

Central Yukon:(CYSIP study area)

Genera: 1

Species: 1

Structure:

• Has odorous resin dots.
• Small shrub, 50-100cm tall.
• Stems dark, branches reddish-brown, ascending.

Leaves:

• Cuneate in shape with a few teeth toward the tip.
• Clustered near ends of branches.
• Dotted with strongly aromatic, yellow resinous glands.
• Greyish-green, alternate, simple, 1-6cm long by 0.2-3cm wide.

Reproductive Parts:

• Catkins cone like born in axilsof leaves near the tip of last years wood.
• Female catkins 1cm long, Ovaries with floral parts attached to the base. Pistils fused to the bracts. Dotted with yellow glands.
• Male catkins 1-2cm long, Flowers usually 4 stamens sometimes 3-5.
• Plants dioecious (uni-sexual).

Seed:

• 1-seeded wax covered drupes. 2.5-3.5 cm long.

Not to Be Confused With:

• Salix (Willow) species of the same size could be confused. However the catkins of Salix spp. are not like Myrica gale (Sweet Gale). Nor do they have the scent of Sweet Gale.

Physiology:

• The roots of these plants contain organisms that can fix nitrogen. They can contribute appreciable amount of nitrogen to the soil.
• These plants are single sex (dioecious) but very interestingly they can change sex from year to year. Bearing male flowers one year and female flowers the next.

Life Cycle:

• Perennial.

Seasonal Cycle:

• Catkins gone to seed by mid-July.
• Leaves deciduous.

Animal Uses:

Habitat:

• Marshlands, bogs, wet sites along the borders of small lakes, pond, and streams.

Modern:

Industrial:

• Bark harvested in Autumn will will dye wool a good yellow colour.
• Fruit bearing stems are boiled in water and the wax that floated to the surface was skimmed off and used as scented candle wax.
• Leaves used for dyeing yield a golden yellow colour; with copper vitrol mordant: a warm yellow colour, and with copperas crystals mordant: a cool yellow-green colour.

Medicinal:

• Leaves have flea-repellent properties.

Food:

• Fruit is dried in France and used to make a spicy flavouring for soups and stews. Similar to sage.
• Leaves can be added to soups or stews and when cured they make a delicate palatable tea.

Traditional Gwich'in:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

Food:

Traditional Other:

Folklore:

Industrial:

Medicinal:

• Dean'ina made a decoction from the leaves taken by TB sufferers, and used as a wash for boils and pimples.
• Sweeds used a strong decoction of the bark to kill insects and other vermin and cure the itch.

Food:

• Used for flavouring ale long before hops were brought into England. Gale Ale was "Fit to make a man quickly drunk".