‖ myrica
(mɪˈraɪkə)
[L., a. Gr. µυρῑ́κη.]
1. The tamarisk.
| 1706 Phillips (ed. 6), Myrica or Myrice, a low Shrub, call'd Tamarisk. 1819 Shelley Let. to T. L. Peacock 25 Feb., The cytisus,..the myrtle, and the myrica [at Naples]. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 305 Tamarix Anglica (Common Tamarisk)... It is the Myrica of the Greeks and Romans. |
2. A Linnæan genus of shrubs mostly furnished with glands having aromatic secretions; a plant of this genus, e.g. Myrica Gale, the bog myrtle.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XII. 566/1 Wax-bearing myrica, or candleberry myrtle. 1826 Carrington Dartmoor 69 Upon his [sc. the Dart's] banks..Nature's hand has thrown the odorous Myrica. |
3. attrib. myrica-tallow, -wax = myrtle-wax.
| 1862 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. Ser. ii. XXXIII. 320 As a substitute for bees-wax in the manufacture of candles, the Myrica wax appears to be worthy of more attention than it has yet received. 1865 Watts Dict. Chem., Myrica-tallow, myrtle-wax. |