Myrtle
Myrtle (mẽr"t'l) , noun
[French myrtil bilberry, prop., a little myrtle, from myrte myrtle, Latin myrtus, murtus, Greek my`rtos; compare Per. mūrd.]
(Botany) A species of the genus Myrtus, especially Myrtus communis. The common myrtle has a shrubby, upright stem, eight or ten feet high. Its branches form a close, full head, thickly covered with ovate or lanceolate evergreen leaves. It has solitary axillary white or rosy flowers, followed by black several-seeded berries. The ancients considered it sacred to Venus. The flowers, leaves, and berries are used variously in perfumery and as a condiment, and the beautifully mottled wood is used in turning.
The name is also popularly but wrongly applied in America to two creeping plants, the blue-flowered periwinkle and the yellow-flowered moneywort. In the West Indies several myrtaceous shrubs are called myrtle.
Collocations (6)
Bog myrtle , the sweet gale.
Crape myrtle , See under Crape.
Myrtle warbler (Zoology) , a North American wood warbler (Dendroica coronata); -- called also myrtle bird, yellow-rumped warbler, and yellow-crowned warbler.
Sand myrtle , a low, branching evergreen shrub (Leiophyllum buxifolium), growing in New Jersey and southward.
Wax myrtle , (Myrica cerifera). See Bayberry.