Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Myrtle
Myr′tle
(mẽr′t’l)
, Noun.
[F.
myrtil
bilberry, prop., a little myrtle, from myrte
myrtle, L. myrtus
, murtus
, Gr. μύρτος
; cf. Per. mūrd
.] (Bot.)
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
. Bog myrtle
, the sweet gale.
– Crape myrtle
. See under
– Crape
. Myrtle warbler
(Zool.)
, a North American wood warbler (
– Dendroica coronata
); – called also myrtle bird
, yellow-rumped warbler
, and yellow-crowned warbler
. Myrtle wax
. (Bot.)
See
– Bayberry tallow
, under Bayberry
. Sand myrtle
, a low, branching evergreen shrub (
– Leiophyllum buxifolium
), growing in New Jersey and southward. Wax myrtle
(
Myrica cerifera
). See Bayberry
.Webster 1828 Edition
Myrtle
MYR'TLE
,Noun.