A rare species in Michigan, apparently native around the margins of and in fens in Barry, Jackson, Kent, Ottawa, and Washtenaw Cos. Sometimes planted for wildlife, and other collections from sandy upland old  fields are apparently escapes from old plantings, with the spread mostly, if not entirely, vegetative.

This is the plant from whose fruits, white-waxy at maturity, the wax used in bayberry candles is extracted. By some authors the bayberry alliance of species is considered distinct enough from Myrica to be placed in the genus Morella, and our plant would be Morella pensylvanica (Mirb.) Kartesz or M. caroliniensis (Mill.) Small.