Species
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Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built. Not a statement that none exist.

Myrica cerifera Bigelow

Myricaceae

Climate known Photographs not checked
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Myrica cerifera is an evergreen tree or large shrub native to North and Central America and the Caribbean. Its common names include southern wax myrtle, southern bayberry, candleberry, bayberry tree, and tallow shrub. It has uses in the garden and for candlemaking, as well as a medicinal plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Myrica cerifera”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Myrica

Myrica is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales. The genus has a wide distribution, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America, and missing only from Antarctica and Oceania. Some botanists split the genus into two genera on the basis of the catkin and fruit structure, restricting Myrica to a few species, and treating the others in Morella.

Text from Wikipedia, “Myrica”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Myricaceae
Described by
Bigelow
Native to
Oklahoma, New Jersey, Texas +33
Wild records
69 in range· 55 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1361mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 158 mm (CHELSA)
Light
19–41DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March, May to October and December in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1361 mm a year, wettest September at 158 mm, driest April at 81 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 41 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (March, May to October and December in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1017 mm of 1361 mm) takes 8 months, March, May to October and December. Mean temperature moves 15.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April, June and September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1361 mm a year, wettest September at 158 mm, driest April at 81 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1361 mm a year at the habitat, 1017 mm of it March, May to October and December. Wettest month September at 158 mm, driest April at 81 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1176 mm to 2138 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 41 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 41 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -1.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -1.7 °C, the absolute minimum -11.0 °C, about 8 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 35.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 7.5 °C in January (across the envelope cells 2.1 °C to 20.3 °C), warmest day 31.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 17 °C in Jan to 31 °C in Jul; mean night from 8 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1361 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 50 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -11.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 35.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost35.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)-11.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 19–41RH 57–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 50 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C17 / 12–2518 / 14–2621 / 17–2825 / 21–2928 / 22–3130 / 24–3231 / 26–3331 / 26–3330 / 24–3025 / 20–2920 / 17–2717 / 12–26
Night °C8 / 2–208 / 4–2110 / 7–2114 / 11–2218 / 14–2422 / 18–2623 / 20–2623 / 20–2621 / 17–2616 / 12–2512 / 8–239 / 4–22
Rain mm87 / 48–12683 / 47–13698 / 52–14981 / 50–115105 / 84–165144 / 109–280148 / 99–212152 / 89–236158 / 94–272113 / 77–24993 / 53–13599 / 41–137
DLI21 / 17–2826 / 21–3332 / 28–3939 / 35–4341 / 38–4240 / 35–4138 / 37–4236 / 34–4031 / 29–3527 / 24–3122 / 18–2719 / 15–26
RH %59 / 57–6158 / 57–6158 / 56–6057 / 55–6160 / 57–6363 / 60–6563 / 59–6663 / 58–6663 / 57–6860 / 57–6859 / 57–6559 / 58–63

Each figure is the median across the 50 grid cells holding the 50 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1188:1869 (30.575, -86.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -11.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 35.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 50 distinct grid cells holding the 50 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1188:1869 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 30.50_-86.250, lapse-corrected -1 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 28 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeOklahoma, New Jersey, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Is.· introduced: Hawaii, Illinois
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker27.343, -81.341 · in the densest population, 23 records (33% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 69 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 55 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 540 km away. 19 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 69 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Myrica cerifera, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Accelerating Forest Succession in a Fragmented Landscape: The Role of Birds and Perches
Tim R. McClanahan, R. W. Wolfe (1993) · Conservation Biology
Development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from a genome survey of Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra)
Yun Jiao, Huimin Jia, Xiongwei Li, Mingliang Chai (2012) · BMC Genomics
SPECIES RESPONSES TO FIRE ON THE FLORIDA LAKE WALES RIDGE
Warren G. Abrahamson (1984) · American Journal of Botany
Leaf chlorophyll fluorescence, reflectance, and physiological response to freshwater and saltwater flooding in the evergreen shrub, Myrica cerifera
Julie C. Naumann, Donald R. Young, John E. Anderson (2008) · Environmental and Experimental Botany
Hurricanes and the Urban Forest: I. Effects on Southeastern United States Coastal Plain Tree Species
Mary L. Duryea, Eliana Kampf, Ramon C. Littell (2007) · Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
Salinity and the small-scale distribution of three barrier island shrubs
Donald R. Young, David L. Erickson, Shawn W. Semones (1994) · Canadian Journal of Botany
Abaco Bush Medicine: Chemical Composition of the Essential Oils of Four Aromatic Medicinal Plants from Abaco Island, Bahamas
Jennifer M. Schmidt, Joseph A. Noletto, Bernhard Vogler, William N. Setzer (2007) · Journal of Herbs Spices & Medicinal Plants
S patial and temporal growth dynamics of B arrier I sland shrub thickets
Donald R. Young, Guofan Shao, John H. Porter (1995) · American Journal of Botany
The Diarylheptanoid (+)-aR,11S-Myricanol and Two Flavones from Bayberry (Myrica cerifera) Destabilize the Microtubule-Associated Protein Tau
Jeffrey R. Jones, Matthew D. Lebar, Umesh K. Jinwal, Jose F. Abisambra (2010) · Journal of Natural Products
A novel non‐peptide endothelin antagonist isolated from bayberry, Myrica cerifera
Masafumi Fujimoto, Shin‐ichi Mihara, Shigeyuki Nakajima, Motohiko Ueda (1992) · FEBS Letters

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Myrica 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: filled 2026-09-20
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answerapi.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 16 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.