What a cool plant!

This past Saturday my hausband and I decided to go for a hike since the weather had been so nice. We drove to Cheesequake State Park in New Jersey and found a very cool plant...the Bayberry plant.

The Bayberry plant grows in the swampy, marsh lands of New Jersey among other places. It is an evergreen plant that has little berries that are green/white and turn silver in September when they are ripe. You can then pick the berries and use the wax that is on the berries to make candles. Of course it takes a lot of berries in order to make one candle, five cups of berries to one candles to be exact. The berries are boiled till they float to the top and then are removed. The water will cool and the wax will harden on top of the water after which you can remove the wax and use it. The wax has a lower melting point of 116 degrees to 120 degrees and is much harder than beeswax. Bayberry wax is also knwon as Wax Mrytle, Candleberry, Candleberry Mrytle, Waxberry and Tallow Shrub.

According to legend, in the 1700s, just before Christmas, the women of each village would add the oil of the Bayberry plant to the candles and then give a candle to each house in the village. The thought was that if you burned the candle to the end without blowing it out ti would bring joy to the house and wealth in your pocket for the coming year. That same legend is still around but you must receive the candle as a gift in order to get the good fortune.

Even though most plants are protected now you can still grow them in your yard as decorative landscaping and use the berries yourself. It is a great natural resource that is so helpful to evrything around it...people, animals and the enviroment.

http://www.kindredscents.com/