Wood: When the ripe fruits are placed in a bucket of boiling water, the wax floats to the surface and can be collected for making fragrant bayberry candles and soap. The northern bayberry (M. pensylvanica) is usually used for this purpose.
Wildlife: The fruits (and buds) are eaten by various kinds of wildlife, especially birds, such as tree swallows, myrtle warblers and catbirds. White-tailed deer browse the leaves and young twigs.
Horticulture: Bayberries are used in landscaping for their attractive, mostly evergreen foliage. The Pacific bayberry (M. californica) is a hardy evergreen shrub or, occasionally, a small tree to 30 feet. Leaves are yellow-green, with black dots on the underside. Leaves are less aromatic than other species. In this species, flowers of both sexes occur on the same plant, and the fruit is dark purple and waxy. The southern bayberry (M. cerifera) is a tall, upright shrub or small tree to 40 feet. The leaves are dotted with small, black glands above and orange glands below. The gray, waxy fruits are produced without stalks (sessile) on the previous year's growth. This species is tolerant of salt spray and damp soils, but defoliates at below zero temperatures. The Northern bayberry (M. pensylvanica) is a bushy shrub to 6 feet, spreading to form colonies by suckering. It has dark green, leathery, pubescent leaves, with resin dots on the lower surface. It has white buds on gray, pubescent twigs and bears tiny, grayish, waxy fruits in winter. It is hardy from zone 3 to 6, and is an excellent maritime plant, good for dry, arid conditions and highway plantings.
