Nomenclature

Species name:

Myrtus communis   L.

Author(s):

Carl von Linné
   Sweden, 1707-1778

General names:

Myrtle
Common myrtle
Roman Myrtle

Maltese name:

Riħan

Plant Family:

Myrtaceae   (Myrtle Family)

Name Derivation:

Myrtus = The Greek name for Myrtle. The greeks held this plant sacred to Aphrodite and in Christian religion, it has been associated with the Virgin. (Greek);
communis = Common; growing in groups (Latin).

Synonyms:

Myrtus acuta, M. belgica, M. boetica, M. italica, M. littoralis, M. veneris.

Remarks:

Two sites in Malta are named after this plant, indicating clearly that it was much more common in the past and also indigenous. The sites are Wied ir-Riħan (a valley in Gozo) and Ghajn Riħana.

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Damp places such as in valleys

Sources in Malta:

Very rare in the wild, known only in very few sites namely Wardija (San Martin), Girgenti and Buskett (cultivated). Found as ornamental in several sites.

Plant Height:

1-5m (max.) but usually not more than 3m in Malta.

Flowering Time:

Jun-Oct

A perennial, densely branched, evergreen plant which is described either as a shrub or tree depending how large it grows. It can grow up to a 5m tree, but the wild ones in Malta are smaller - often shrub-like specimens. White glandular hairs are present on young stems but not on leaves. The plant is well known for its delicious fragrance and aromatic virtues from ancient history.

It produces numerous stalkless leaves arranged oppositely and mostly at an angle of 45 degrees to the stems. They have a hard, leather-like, semi-glossy texture with an oval or spindle-like shape ending with a pointed tip. Leaves are between 2-4cm long, have an entire margin and are dark green in colour with a prominent pale midrib.

The flowers are borne solitarily from leaf axils supported by long, slender pedicels. The latter have 2 small, basal bracteoles that fall off before flowers are ripe. The plant forms large number of flowers, which are spherical in bud. The actinomorphic flowers are pure white in colour and gives of a sweet fragrant smell. The calyx consists of 5, small, teeth-like, basally-fused sepals often with a reddish tip. The corolla is composed of 5, round-shaped, free petals about 1cm long each.

The flower is characterized by a central cluster of numerous, slender, white, radiating stamens which are as long as, or slightly longer than the petals. They possess yellow anthers at the tips. The pistil consists of a small ovary with a white, firm style and undifferentiated stigma - hidden among the cluster of stamens.

After fertilisation, the stamens and petals drop off, followed by the style later. The developed fruit is a berry which is initially pale green, then turns deep red and finally becomes dark-indigo when fully mature. The glabrous berry can reach 1 cm in length and has a rounded (vase-like) shape with a swollen central part and remnants of the persistent calyx teeth (=sepals) at the outer part. Berries are edible with a sweet taste hence their widespread cultivation from ancient times in the Mediterranean region.

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