Tree · Myricaceae
Northern bayberry
Morella pensylvanica
Northern bayberry is recorded as native to 13 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 124 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Northern bayberry at a glance
- Native in
- 124 counties, across 13 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b PLANTS minimum temperature −28°F
- Mature height
- 12 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −28°F; zone 4b winters bottom out at −25°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Northern bayberry is recorded as native to 13 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 124 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 124 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- Maine 10 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 12 counties
- New Hampshire 5 counties
- New Jersey 21 counties
- New York 28 counties
- North Carolina 2 counties
- Ohio 5 counties
- Pennsylvania 23 counties
- Rhode Island 5 counties
- Virginia 9 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Shrub, Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 12 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Colonizing
- Shape
- Semi-Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 65 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.5 to 7.8
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 20 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −28°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 140
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Blue
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- Medium
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Myricaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- MOPE6
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Morella pensylvanica (PLANTS symbol MOPE6).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources