Myrica cerifera ‘Luray’

Southern wax myrtle, long known as Myrica cerifera and now often placed in the genus Morella, is one of the most useful evergreens of the Southeast, a fast, aromatic large shrub or small tree of the coastal plain. 'Luray' is a male clone selected in Hampton County, South Carolina, by the plantsman Bob McCartney for a notably dense habit and a compact, semi-dwarf form. Brush the olive-green leaves and a clean, resinous, bay-like scent rises, the same fragrance that gives the tribe the old names wax myrtle and bayberry.

The bayberry name carries a piece of early American history, though a caveat comes with it here. On female wax myrtles, the small blue-gray berries are coated in a fragrant wax that colonists boiled off to make the clean-burning, sweet-scented bayberry candles still associated with the holidays. 'Luray', being a male selection, sets no fruit and makes no wax, so this plant is grown for foliage and form rather than candles, and does a second quiet job besides: a male nearby pollinates the female wax myrtles so that they, in turn, can fruit.

Few shrubs are so accommodating. Wax myrtle grows wild in low, moist ground, yet shrugs off drought once established, tolerates salt spray and poor sandy soil, and fixes nitrogen at the roots through a bacterial partnership, improving lean ground while growing. The dense evergreen foliage shelters birds, deer tend to leave the aromatic leaves alone, and the fast growth knits a screen in a hurry. Plant in acid soil, in full sun to part shade, and expect easy, trouble-free vigor.

The compact, semi-dwarf form of 'Luray' makes the selection far easier to place than the full-sized wax myrtle: a tidy evergreen hedge or screen, an informal foundation planting, a wildlife border, or a clipped specimen that takes shearing without complaint. Site the shrub where a dependable, fine-textured evergreen is wanted, pair with other acid-loving natives, and set the plant within range of female wax myrtles if berries on those companions are the goal. Little care is needed beyond the occasional trim to shape.