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[ Plant part | Family | Aroma | Chemistry | Origin | Etymology | Discussion | Bottom ]

Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.)

Synonyms

pharmaceutical Folia Myrti
Albanian Mersinë e rëndomtë, Cimartë, Mërçelë, Mërsina
Amharic አደስ
Addus
Arabic آس; ريحان, مورد, رند, مرسين
رَيْحَان, رَنْد
As, Hadass, Rand, Murd; Raihan (North Africa only)
Aramaic ܐܣ, ܒܪܬ݂ ܐܣܐ, ܗܕܣ
As, Bath Asa, Hadas
Armenian Մրտենի, Մրտի, Մուրտ
Mrdeni, Mrdi, Mrteni, Mrti, Murt
Belarusian Мірт
Mirt
Bengali মেহেদি
Mehedi?
Breton Meurta
Bulgarian Мирта
Mirta
Catalan Murta, Murtera, Murtra
Chinese
(Cantonese) 香桃木 [hēung tóu muhk]
Heong tou muhk
Chinese
(Mandarin) 桃金娘 [táo jīn niáng], 香桃木 [xiāng táo mù]
Tao jin niang, Xiang tao mu
Croatian Mirta, Mrtvina
Czech Myrta, Myrta obecná
Danish Myrte
Dutch Mirte, Mirt
Esperanto Mirto, Ordinara mirto
Estonian Harilik mülrt
Farsi مورد
Moord
Finnish Myrtti
French Myrte (commun)
Gaelic Miortal
Galician Mirto
Georgian მირტი
Mirti
German Myrte, Brautmyrte
Greek Μυρτιά
Mirtia, Myrtia
Greek (Old) Μύρτος, Μυρσίνη, Μύῤῥινος
Myrtos, Myrsine, Myrrhinos
Gujarati હિના
Hina
Hebrew הדס
הֲדַס
Hadas
Hindi विलायती मेंहदी, हिना
Vilayati menhadi, Hina
Hungarian Mirtusz
Italian Mirto
Japanese ギンバイカ, マートル
Ginbaika, Gimbaika, Matoru
Korean 머틀
Meotul, Motul
Latin Murta, Myrta, Baca myrtæ
Latvian Mirtes
Lithuanian Tikroji mirta
Macedonian Мирта
Mirta
Maltese Riħan
Polish Mirt pospolity
Portuguese Murta; Mirto (Brazil)
Provençal Nerto
Romanian Mirt
Russian Мырт
Myrt
Sanskrit Bola
Serbian Мирта, Мрча
Mirta, Mrča
Slovak Myrta obyčajná, Myrta
Slovenian Mirta
Spanish Arrayán, Mirto
Swedish Myrten
Tamil குழிநாவல்
Kulinaval, Kuzhinaval
Thai น้ํามันเขียว
Namman khieo
Turkish Mersin, Murt, Bahar, Sazak
Ukrainian Мирт
Myrt
Urdu ولائتی مہندی
Habulas, Vilaiti mehandi
Vietnamese Cây sim
Cay sim
Welsh Myrtwydden
Yiddish הדס, מירד
Hodes, Mirt
Used plant part

Around the Medi­terra­nean, mostly the fresh or dried leaves are used; the dried berry fruits are also aromatic and have been tried as a substitute for black pepper.

Plant family

Myrtaceae (myrtle family)

Sensory quality

The leaves exemanate an aromatic and re­freshing smell some­what reminis­cent to myrrh or eucalypt; the taste is very inten­sive, quite dis­agree­able and strongly bitter.

Main constituents

The most important constituents of myrtle oil (up to 0.8% in the leaves) are myrtenol, myrtenol acetate, limonene (23%), linalool (20%), pinene (14%), cineol (11%), furthermore, p-cymene, geraniol, nerol and the phenylpropanoid, methyleugenol. There is considerable variability in the composition of oil from different locations.

Origin

The plant grows abundantly in the North Western to Eastern Mediterranean; its multiple occurrences in the Old Testament testifies its significance to West Asian peoples (see also pomegranate).

Etymology

Myrtle has closely related names in most European and even some non-European languages; besides English myrtle, we have German Myrte, Estonian mürt, Spanish mirto, Scottisch Gaelic miortal, Modern Greek mirtia [μυρτιά], Russian myrt [мырт], Armenian mrdeni [մրտենի] and Farsi mourd [مورد]. All these names relate to Old Greek myrtos [μύρτος] or myrsine [μυρσίνη] and were typically transmitted via Latin myrtus. The Greek term entered the language probably as a Semitic loan; see also nutmeg.

Besides the Greco-Latin mirto, Spanish has another term for myrtle, which is of Arabic origin: Arrayán is a medieval loan from Andalusian Arabic ar-raihan [الريحان] the myrtle; this term is still valid in modern Arabic, but in the Arabic-speaking countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and of Asia, it has changed its meaning to basil, while the denotation myrtle is conserved only in North African Arabic; cf also Maltese riħan myrtle. Raihan derives from the Arabic noun rih [ريح] odour. See also caper for Arabic loanwords in Iberic languages.

Selected Links

chemikalienlexikon.de: Linalool Die Myrte (Jens Rathke)


Myrtus communis: Myrtle shrub
Myrtle plants with flowers Myrtle is another example of a spice finding no wide appli­cation because of its bitter­ness (see zedoary), despite the pleasant odour. Its culinary im­portance is limited to the region of origin: The fragrant macchia forests on the mountain slopes around the Mediterranean Sea.

Myrtle is a perfect firewood, transmitting a spicy, aromatic taste to any meat grilled thereover. Furthermore, meat or poultry may be wrapped with myrtle branches or the body cavities may be stuffed therewith; after broiling or roasting, the myrtle is to be removed. Foods flavoured with the smoke of myrtle are common in rural areas of Italy or Sardinia; rosemary may serve as a substitute. Interestingly, the same technique is also known in the Caribbean, where allspice leaves are employed for virtually the same purposes.

Dried myrtle leaves are readily available in most Western countries; any food broiled over charcoal may be flavoured simply by repeatedly sprinkling a handful of the leaves over the glowing coal. Rosemary, thyme and other robust herbs (even eucalypt) may also be tried.



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