Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Myrica cerifera
Pronounced BAY-ber-ee; MEER-ih-kuh seh-RIH-fer-uh
Warm, dry, astringent-stimulant: the Thomsonian tightener that firms boggy, cold, relaxed mucous membranes, checks atonic diarrhea and passive bleeding, and rekindles a sluggish surface circulation.
Avoid. Internal use in pregnancy is contraindicated on modern review: myricadiol has mineralocorticoid-like activity (sodium and water retention, potassium loss, raised blood pressure) and the high tannin fraction of the bark is carcinogenic in rodent studies; the bark is also reported spermatocidal and antiandrogenic. Not established as a direct abortifacient, but these concerns make internal use inadvisable. (AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed.; Brinker; Mills & Bone, Essential Guide to Herbal Safety; Natural Medicines / RxList.)
Avoid. Insufficient safety data, and the same mineralocorticoid and tannin-carcinogenicity concerns apply; standard guidance is to avoid internal use during lactation. Occasional topical or gargle use is a lesser concern but is not well studied. (AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed.; Mills & Bone, Essential Guide to Herbal Safety.)
Not recommended for internal use in children. The emetic, sternutatory, high-tannin bark and its mineralocorticoid activity make it unsuitable, and pediatric data are lacking. Reserve brief topical or gargle use for older children under practitioner guidance. (Extrapolated from AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook 2nd ed.; no dedicated pediatric data.)
High tannin content: not for prolonged internal use (the tannin fraction is carcinogenic in rodent studies). Large single doses of the powder are emetic and sternutatory (provoke sneezing and coughing). The triterpene myricadiol has mineralocorticoid-like activity that can cause sodium and water retention, raised blood pressure, and potassium depletion, so avoid in hypertension, edema, congestive heart failure, and kidney disease. May cause nausea, vomiting, and, in excess, liver irritation. A practitioner-level astringent, not for casual long-term self-use.
Pregnancy and lactation; hypertension; fluid retention or edema; congestive heart failure; kidney disease; hypokalemia; iron-deficiency anemia (tannins impair iron absorption); acute hot or inflamed mucous-membrane conditions. Avoid prolonged internal use.
A native shrub of eastern North American coastal thickets, swamp margins, and dune scrub; not listed as at-risk by United Plant Savers. Root-bark harvest kills the plant, so favor cultivated or sustainably coppiced sources and avoid wildcrafting from fragile coastal wetland and dune habitat.
Not named in the canonical biblical texts. Myrica cerifera (bayberry, wax myrtle) is native to the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains of North America and entered the materia medica through Samuel Thomson and the 19th-century Physio-Medical and Eclectic traditions. Its berry wax, used for fragrant candles, gave it economic prominence in colonial America.
The same herb can calm one person and wire another. Our free assessment reads your pattern across temperature, moisture and tone, then matches herbs to it.
Teaching children at home? Eden's Table builds a full herbalism curriculum around plants like this one.
