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Sweetgale, Bog-Myrtle, Myrica gale L.
Myricaceae

Erect shrub, 1-1.5 m high.

Twigs: New twigs are hairy and glandular-dotted. Older branches are shiny, chestnut brown, dotted with white lenticels. Winter twigs are shiny with sharp-pointed buds that have many overlapping scales. Bud scales are dark at the base and have white margins. Male flower buds are larger than the leaf buds and clustered towards the twig ends.

Leaves: Alternate, spatula-shaped, usually rounded at the tip, tapering at the base, 2.5-6 cm long. Both surfaces are hairy and glandular-dotted. Uppersurface is grayish-green and undersurface is paler. Margins entire, except towards the tip, where it is conspiculously toothes. Leaves are crowded towards the upper part of the branches.

Flowers: Catkins, sexes usually on separate plants. Male catkins are distinctive, about 1.2 cm long, yellowish with reddish scales, and crowded at the end of the twig. Female catkins are less noticeable, not as numerous as male, about 3 mm long, with ruby-red styles. Blooms from late April through May before the leaves expand.

Fruit: Conelike clusters of small, yellowish-green, resin-dotted nutlets about 1 cm long. Ripen in August.

Habitat: Bogs and fens, around ponds, along brooks and streams, and other wet areas. Very common throughout Newfoundland and occurs north to about 57 degrees latitude in Labrador.

Note: Dried leaves can be used for tea and to flavor meat. Nutlets may be used as a spice.

Source: Native Trees and Shrubs of Newfoundland and Labrador
By A. Glen Ryan
Parks and Natural Areas Division
Department of Environment and Conservation
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador 1995
Used with permission.