See text Myrica /mɪˈraɪkə/[3] is a genus of about 35–50 species of small trees and shrubs in the family Myricaceae, order Fagales.

Some botanists split the genus into two genera on the basis of the catkin and fruit structure, restricting Myrica to a few species, and treating the others in Morella.

The leaves are spirally arranged, simple, 2–12 cm (13⁄16–4+3⁄4 in) long, oblanceolate with a tapered base and broader tip, and a crinkled or finely toothed margin.

The wax coating on the fruit is indigestible for most birds, but a few species have adapted to be able to eat it, notably the yellow-rumped warbler and tree swallow in North America.

Myrica species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including brown-tail, emperor moth, and winter moth as well as the bucculatricid leaf-miners Bucculatrix cidarella, B. myricae (feeds exclusively on M. gale) and B. paroptila and the Coleophora case-bearers C. comptoniella, C. pruniella, and C. viminetella.

The fruit of Myrica rubra is an economically important crop in China, sold fresh, dried, canned, for juice, for flavoring in snacks, and for alcoholic beverages.