Myrica rubra Identity & Plant Part
The botanical entity is Myrica rubra, an evergreen tree of the Myricaceae family native to southern China and grown for its round, knobbly red-purple fruit. The part used is the fruit. Bark, leaves, roots and the stone are not part of this ingredient.
The common name bayberry causes the main confusion. In Western herbal supplements, bayberry usually means the root bark of Myrica cerifera, the American wax myrtle, which is a different species and a different part. The Chinese bayberry fruit, also sold as yumberry or waxberry, has nothing in common with that bark except the genus.
The fruit is colored by anthocyanins, principally cyanidin glycosides, and it also carries organic acids and flavonols such as myricetin.
The fruit is highly perishable and is traded fresh, frozen or as juice. A dried bayberry extract differs from all three, and from a juice-based powder, in how it is made and in the composition of the dry solid.












