Мирт

Myrtus communis, the common myrtle or true myrtle, is an evergreen shrub in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The plant is an evergreen shrub or small tree, growing to 5 metres tall. The leaves are 2-5 centimetres long and carry a fragrant essential oil. The flowers are white or tinged with pink, and the fruit is an edible berry that is blue-black when ripe. The species is native to southern Europe, North Africa, Western Asia, Macaronesia, and the Indian subcontinent. It grows wild in Algeria, Corsica, France, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Sardinia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey and Yugoslavia, among other places.

Myrtle oil's composition differs between origins and extraction techniques. Oil hydrodistilled from leaves of plants grown in Sardinia contained mostly α-pinene (generally 30.0%, in one case up to 59.5%), 1,8-cineole (15.9 to 41.7%, average 28.8%) and limonene (5.2 to 29.8%, average 17.5%). A hydrodistilled Spanish oil had a high content of myrtenyl acetate (35.9%) and 1,8-cineole (29.89%), and a low content of α-pinene (8.2%) and limonene (7.58%). A Greek oil extracted by steam distillation was rich in linalyl acetate (31.4%), limonene (21.8%), α-pinene (18%) and geranyl acetate (6.5%). For Iranian oil, the number and amount of compounds identified differed between hydrodistillation and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction.

The genus Myrtus was first described by Linnaeus in 1753 and has two accepted species, the common myrtle and the Saharan myrtle, Myrtus nivellei. Myrtle is described in Leviticus as part of the feast and observance of Sukkot.

In Jewish liturgy, the myrtle is one of the four species of Sukkot. Pausanias writes that the rose and the myrtle are sacred to Aphrodite. Myrtle in a wedding bouquet is a general European custom. In Sardinia and Corsica, Myrtus communis is macerated in alcohol to produce an aromatic liqueur called Mirto. Mirto comes in two varieties: mirto rosso, made from the berries, and mirto bianco, made from the less common yellow berries and sometimes the leaves. Many Mediterranean pork dishes include myrtle berries. The berries, whole or ground, have also been used as a pepper substitute.

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