Myrtle

Myrtus communis, the common myrtle, is an evergreen aromatic shrub of the Myrtaceae family native to the Mediterranean basin and parts of western Asia. It typically forms a dense, rounded bush two to four metres tall, occasionally a small tree, with reddish-brown, peeling bark on older stems. The leaves are opposite, ovate-lanceolate, three to five centimetres long, leathery, glossy dark green, and dotted with translucent oil glands that release a sweet, balsamic fragrance when crushed. In summer, solitary white flowers about two centimetres across appear in the leaf axils, each with five petals surrounding a prominent boss of long white stamens. These mature into ovoid blue-black berries about a centimetre long, edible and used as a spice. The plant favours warm, sunny, well-drained limestone slopes.