Myrtle
Myrtus communis
Family · Myrtaceae · Harmless
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The small glossy-leaved shrub that smells intensely when rubbed, bearing dark blue berries in winter. It is the plant of wedding crowns since antiquity and the base of Sardinian myrtle liqueur.
Scrubland · Streams and ditches · Montado · Walls and rocks
Also known ascommon myrtle, true myrtle
How to tell it
Opposite, small, leathery, dark glossy leaves with translucent dots against the light that are oil glands. A strong, clean smell when crushed. White flowers with a tuft of long stamens.
What it is confused with
Narrow-leaved mock privet
Phillyrea angustifolia
They share the scrub and the small opposite leaf. Rub and smell: myrtle is intensely aromatic, mock privet smells of nothing. And myrtle has translucent dots against the light.
What it is for
The ripe berries are eaten and make liqueur, and the leaves season game and pork. It was a ritual plant across the Mediterranean, and is still used in festival branches in several regions.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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