Myrtus communis
Common name:
Common Myrtle
True Myrtle
Pronunciation:
MUR-tus kom-MU-nis
Family:
Myrtaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
No
- Broadleaf evergreen shrub or small tree, to 10 ft tall and 12 ft wide (3 × 6.7 m), dense foliage. Bark is smooth and gray-brown, becomes handsome with age, eventually developing a brown to tan pealing segments revealing a darker or lighter tan inner bark. Leaves simple, opposite, ovate to lanceolate, 2.5-5 cm long and about 1.5 cm wide, apex pointed, margin entire, dark glossy green, paler below, covered with transparent dots, strongly scented when crushed. Flowers white or pink-white, to 3 cm wide, many stamens, fragrant, on long stalks (to 3 cm). Fruit subglobose, 9 mm diam., blue-black when ripe.
- Sun. Requires well-drained soil. Shelter from cool drying winds. Often grown as hedge or screen.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 8 Native to Mediterranean and southwest Europe, although its native range is uncertain since the plant has been widely cultivated for centuries.
- There are seveal cultivars, one is a dwarf, dense form known as 'Compacta'.
- communis: common
Click image to enlarge
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plant habit, tree
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leafy shoot
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leafy shoot
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leafy shoot, underside
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trunk, bark
