■ Lib. 3. Of the Hiftory of Plants. 1413 
chiefeofall the reft (although moft common and beft knovvne)and it growcth like a little ihrub or 
hedge bufh,very like vnto the former, but much fmaller : the leaues are final and narrow, very much 
in fhape refembling the leaues of Mafticke Time calleditf<?> 7 «»,but ofa frefher greene colour .-the 
floures be white, nothing differing from the former failing in greatnefle, and that fometimes they 
are more double. 
t 6 This grovves not very high, neither is it fo fhrubby as the former: the branches are fmall 
and brittle : the leaues are ofa middle bignefle, fliarpe pointed, ftanding by couples in two rowes, 
feldome in foure as the former, they are blackifh alfo and vrel fmelling. the floure is like that of the 
reft: the fruit is round, growing vpon long ftalks out of thebofomesofthe leaues,firft greene. then 
whitifh , laftly blacke,of awiny and plealant tafte with fomeaftriftion. This growes wilde in di- 
ners places of Portugal!, where Clufnts found it flouring in Odober : he calls it Myrtus Beetica fyl. 
uejlris. f 
• ty The Place. 
Thefekihdes of Myrtles grow naturally vpon the wooddy hills and fertill fields of Italyand 
Spain. % The two Iaft are nouriflred in the garden of Miftrefle Tjtggy in Weftminfter,and inforne 
other gardens, t 
The Time. 
Where they ioy to grow of themfclues they floure when the Rofes do:the fruit is ripe in Autumne: 
in England they neuer beare any fruit. 
The Thames. 
It is called in Greeke^'/wn; in Latine, Myrtus : in the Arabicke tongue, Alas : in Italian, Myrto : 
in. S\-)zm(h, Array hm : in the Portingale language,;!/*^, and MnrtclU ■. other Nations doe almoft 
keepe the Latine name.as in Englifh it is called Myrtle, or Myrtle tree. 
Among the Myrtles that which hath the fine little leafe is furnamed of Pliny,Tarentina ; & that 
which is fo thickeand full of leaues Is Exotica, ftrangeor forreine, Ni.g>a Myrtus is that which hath 
the blacke berries : Candida, which hath thewhiteberries,and rhe leaues of this alfo are ofa lighter 
greene : Satina, or the tame planted one is cberifhed in gardens and orchards : Sy lac (Iris, or the wild 
Myrtle is that which growcth ofit felfe ; the berries of this are oftentimes leffer, and of the other, 
greater. Pliny doth alfo fet downe other kindes ■ as Patritia,P/eheia, and C oniugalu : but what manner 
of ones they are he doth not declare the alfo placeth among the Myrtles,Oxjiwyt/«f,or Kneeholm, 
which notwithftanding is none of rhe Myrtles,buta thornie fhrub. 
Pliny in his 14. book, 1 6 .chap. faith, that the wine which is made of the wilde Myrtle tree is cal- 
led Myrtidanum , if the copie be true. For Diofcorides and likewife Sot ion in his Geoponikes report, 
that wine is made of M yrtle berries when they be thorow ripe, but this is called Vinum Myrteitm.pi 
Myrtites, Myrtle wine. 
Moreouer.thereisalfoawinemadeoftheberries and leaues of Myrtle ftamped and fteeped in 
MuftjOr wine new prefled from thegrape,which is called, as Diofcorides faith, Myrftnite vinum, or 
wineofMyrtles. 
The Myrtle tree was in times paft confecrated to Venus. Pliny in his r 5. bookc',29 , chapter, faith 
thus, There was an old Alter belonging to Venus, which they now call Murtia. 
ef The Temperature andVertues. 
The Myrtle confifteth of contrary fubftances, a cold earthineftebearing the preheminence-it A 
hath alfo a certain© fubtill heat, therefore,as Galen faith, it drieth notably . 
The leaues, fruit, buds, and iuicc do binde,both outwardly applied and inwardly taken : they flay B 
the fpitting ofbloud,and all other i Hues thereof: they flop both the whites and reds in women, if 
they lit in a bath made therewith: after which manner and by fomenting alfo they flay the fuper- 
fluous courfe of the hemorrhoides. 
They are a remedy forlaskes,andfor thebloudy flix, they quench the fiery heatofthecies,if C 
they be laid on with parched Barly meale. 
They bealfowith good fuccefleoutwardly applied to all inflammations newly beginning, and D 
alfo to new paine vpon fome fall, ftroke or ftraine. 
They are whollome foramoift and watery ftomackeithe fruit and leaues dried prouoke vrine: E 
for the greene leaues containe in them aceartaine fuperfluous and hurtfull moifture. 
It is good with the decoftion herof made with wine, tobathe lims that are out of ioint,and bur- F 
flings that are hard tobe cured, and vlcersatfoof the outward parts; ithelpeth fpreading tetters, 
fcoureth away the dandrafeand fores of the head, maketh thehaires blacke, and keepeththem 
Cccccc 3 from 
