bayberry

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English

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bog myrtle (Myrica gale) a species of bayberry (Myricaceae)
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Etymology

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From bay +‎ berry.

Noun

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bayberry (plural bayberries)

  1. (Canada, US) The fruit of the wax myrtle shrub; or the plant itself (Morella cerifera), with aromatic, leathery leaves and waxy berries.
    1. Other species in the family Myricaceae, especially in genus Myrica; bay-rum tree, candleberry.
      • 2002, James Fralish, Scott Franklin, Taxonomy and Ecology of Woody Plants in North American Forests[1], Myricaceae (Bayberry or Wax-Myrtle Family), page 230:
        The two North American genera are Myrica (bayberry) and Comptonia (sweet-fern).
  2. The fruit of the bay laurel (Laurus nobilis).
    • 1665, Robert Hooke, Micrographica, section XLIII:
      [T]heir shape was much like a Figg, but very much smaller, some being about the bigness of a Bay-berry, others, and the biggest, of a Hazel-Nut.
  3. West Indian bay tree (Pimenta racemosa), a tropical American shrub with aromatic leaves that are used in the preparation of bay rum.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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