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Myrica gale is deciduous and is a bushy shrub. It grows up to 6 feet tall, though more normally it is about three feet (1 metre) tall.
The branches often trail through the grass later in the season as the wind takes it or wildlife bends the branches,
and grass and ferns can grow and choke the shrub later in the season.
It also seems popular with sheep and deer, and grows better in areas these are kept out.
Myrica gale needs damp preferably peaty soils as in peat bogs, and grows better with running water nearby, which helps to feed it.
It can grow around trees whose roots help to trap the water.
In winter it is virtually unrecognisable expect as a twiggy brown shrub like other deciduous shrubs.
After the last frost and when it gets warmer it starts growing, through the stage where it has softer lighter green leaves,
through to its maturity late in the season where the leaves go darker, stiffer and can go brown as the seeds mature.
It spreads through its waxy fruits which it sheds in Autumn, and these can carry some way.
It dies off with autumn and the first frost. Like us, it has two sexes!
More information and its current uses are on
bogmyrtle.com,
and sweetgale.com
which looks at its place in history (Vikings)
and folklore. It also describes its use for gruit ale and beer-making.
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