Myricaceae
A natural order of trees or shrubs, often aromatic, widely dispersed over Europe, temperate and tropical Asia, South Africa, and North America, often abounding in dots and glands filled with aromatic secretions. Flowers unisexual; males in cylindrical sessile catkins; females in ovate sessile catkins, with closely imbricated bracts. Fruit a globose or ovoid drupe, often covered with waxy papillae. Leaves evergreen or deciduous, alternate, penniveined, entire, serrate, irregularly dentate or lobed or regularly pinnatifid, with a single exception exstipulate. The bark of several Myricaceae contains a resinous substance, which gives it astringent tonic properties; wax, benzoic acid, and tannin, are also yielded. The order contains but one genus-Myrica-and about thirty-five species.