252 



Myrtaceae. 



Myrtus. Myrtle. 

 (Family Myrtaceae). 



Aromatic shrub : evergreen. 

 Twigs slender, terete: pith very 

 minute, somewhat spongy. Buds 

 sessile, solitary, small, ovoid, ap- 

 nressed, with 1 or 2 pairs of ex- 

 posed gray-hairy scales. Leaf- 

 scars opposite, minute, raised: 

 bundle-trace 1: stipule-scars lack- 

 ing. Leaves small, lanceolate, 

 very acute at both ends, entire, 

 pellucid-dotted. 



Myrtle, like the rather similar 

 laurel, was used in an emblema- 

 tic way by the Greeks, with whom 

 it was a particular badge of judi- 

 cial authority. 



To an inexpert person, , myrtle 

 is rather like box in its general 

 effect, and in Azorean gardens a 

 similar suggestion is found in the 

 quite unrelated genus Myrsine. 

 The name running myrtle is sometimes given to the peri- 

 winkle, Vinca minor, for a like reason. 

 Twigs puberulent, with flaking cortex. M. communis. 



