Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | Wax myrtle grows as an evergreen shrub or small tree and can reach 20 to 40 feet in height, 8 to 10 inches in diameter. Individual plants may have a narrow, rounded crown but multi-stemmed clumps often display wide, rounded crowns. |
| Leaves: | Leaves are simple, alternate, and persistent. The leaves are 2 to 4 inches long, ½ inch wide, elliptical in shape, with an acute apex and wedge-shaped base. Leaf margins are coarsely serrate-toothed. Leaves are yellow-green with small dark glands above and bright orange glands below. When bruised or crushed, they give off an aromatic odor. Petioles are short and stout. |
| Twigs: | The twigs are slender, becoming dark brown and glabrous in their second season. The pith homogeneous. |
| Bark: | The bark is thin, smooth, and gray-green with gray patches. |
| Flowers: | The flowers of this plant are dioecious. They occur in oblong catkins. |
| Fruit: | The fruit is a small, light green, round drupe covered with a bluish-white wax. The fruits are borne in clusters, attached to short spikes along the branches. The seeds are small and pale. Fruits mature in autumn and persist until spring. |
| Similar Trees on the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest List: | |