Herb Of The Week - Myrtle - Love To Know 1911 Encyclopedia

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Myrtle (Mvrtus communis).

 

MYRTLE. The t~l~proc of the Greeks, the myrtus of the Romans, and the

myrtle, Myrtus communis (see fig.), of botanists, as now found growing

wild in many parts of the Mediterranean region, doubtless all belong to

one and the same species. It is a low-growing, evergreen shrub, with

opposite leaves, varying in dimensions, but always small, simple,

dark-green, thick in texture, and studded with numerous receptacles for

oil.

 

When the leaf is held up to the light it appears as if perforated with

holes owing to the translucency of these oil-cysts. The fragrance of the

plant depends upon the presence of this oil. Another peculiarity of the

myrtle is the existence of a prominent vein running round the leaf

within the margin.

 

The flowers are borne on short stalks in the axils of the leaves. The

flower-stalk is dilated at its upper end into a globose or ovoid

receptacle enclosing the 2- to 4-partitioned ovary. From its margin

proceed the five sepais, and within them the five rounded, spoonshaped,

spreading, white petals. The stamens spring from the receptacle within

the petals and are very numerous, each consisting of a slender white

filament and a small yellow two-lobed anther. The style surmounting the

ovary is slender, terminating in a small button-like stigma.

 

The fruit is a purplish berry, consisting of the receptacle and the

ovary blended into one succulent investment enclosing very numerous

minute seeds. The embryo-plant within the seed is usually curved.

 

In cultivation many varieties are known, dependent on variations in the

size and shape of the leaves, the presence of so-called double flowers.

The typical species is quite hardy in the south of England. The Chilean

species, M. Ugni, a shrub with ovate, dark green leaves and white

flowers succeeded by globular red or black glossy fruit with a pleasant

smell and taste, is a greenhouse shrub, hardy in south-west Britain. The

common myrtle is the sole representative in Europe of a large genus

which has its headquarters in extra-tropical South America, whilst other

members are found in Australia and New Zealand.

 

The genus Myrtus also gives its name to a very large natural order,

Myrtaceae, the general floral structure of which is like that of the

myrtle above described, but there are great differences in the nature of

the fruit or seed-vessel according as it is dry or capsular, dehiscent,

indehiscent or pulpy; minor differences exist according to the way in

which the stamens are arranged.

 

The aromatic oil to which the myrtle owes its fragrance, and its use in

medicine and the arts, is a very general attribute of the order, as may

be inferred from the fact that the order includes, amongst other genera,

Eucalyptus (q.v.), Pimenta and Eugenia (cloves). Myrtol, a constituent

of myrtle oil, has been given in doses of 515 minims on sugar or in

capsules for pulmonary tuberculosis, fetid bronchitis, bronchiectasis,

and similar conditions. It appears to lessen expectoration in such

cases.

 

The leaves of Myrtus chekan are aromatic and expectorant, and have been

used in chronic bronchitis.

 

Liber quo:~dianus contra-rotulaioris garderobae Edw. I. (London, 1787),

pp, xxxii. and 27.

 

" MYRTLE. " LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia. C 2003, 2004 LoveToKnow.

http://82.1911encyclopedia.org/M/MY/MYRTLE.htm

 

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