Bayberry

Morella pensylvanica

Bayberry is the native shrub of Cape Cod dunes, barrier island edges, and sandy scrub. a plant so tied to the northeastern coastal landscape that the waxy, spice-scented berries have been harvested for candles for three hundred years. The foliage is aromatic when crushed, evergreen to semi-evergreen, and holds attractively through cold winters. In warm years, the leaves stay on until February; in colder years, they drop but the gray waxy berries persist on the stems and feed migrating birds. It fixes nitrogen, handles salt spray, and grows on infertile sandy soils where most shrubs would refuse to establish. Plant males and females together. you need both for berries, though one male pollinates several females. The colonies it forms on sandy slopes are dense and naturalistic, making excellent screening and erosion control in coastal and sandy sites.