Myrtus, Myrtle

Myrtle, Clove Myrtle, Spanish Myrtle
Habb-ul-Ass, Muurad (Unani)
Picture Krauterbuch, Lonitzer, 1578

Picture Two varieties of Myrtus
Kreutterbuch, Matthiolus, 1586

Picture Myrtus communis
(Photo by Javier martin) (Wikimedia)

Picture Myrtle berries
(Photo by Giancarlo Dessì) (Wikimedia)

Botanical name:


Myrtus communis

Parts used:


Leaves, Fruit (‘berries’), Seed
Leaf was more commonly used internally, berries mostly externally
“Small shoots of its roots are most potent”. (Avicenna)

Temperature & Taste:


Cool, dry. Bitter, Sweet
“It has some mild hotness though coldness is dominant” (Avicenna)

Classifications:


2N. REPELLENT
3D. CORDIALS & CARDIACS
4a. CEPHALIC.    4c. CARDIAC.    4e. STOMACHIC.    4k. ARTHRITIC

Uses:


1. Stops Leakage, Retains Essence: (mostly Leaf, fruit)
-excess Sweating (leaf)
-Diarrhea, Dysentery, Spermatorrhea and Leukorrhea. (leaf, fruit)
-Catarrh (leaf)
-Diabetes, Incontinence (Seed, Berry, leaf)
-Fruit decoction is given for internal Ulcers and deep Sinuses.
-Bleeding, spitting of Blood, bloody Dysentery. Uterine bleeding (leaf, berry)
-Myrtle seed has been used in tonic recipes, including to strengthen during Pregnancy.
-Infertility and to enhance virility (berry)
-“It stops Diarrhea, Perspiration, Bleeding of all kinds”. (Avicenna)

2. Clears Heat and Damp, promote Urine:
–Edema, Bladder conditions from irritation
-Prostatitis, Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy
-Bladder and Kidney Ulcers (Haller, Lexicon, 1755)
-berries for Kidney stones.

3. Clears Heat, Stops Cough: (Berries in Syrup)
-Colds, Catarrh, Cough, and acute and chronic Respiratory infections including Whooping Cough.
-Lung Ulcers, Tuberculosis and Spitting of Blood
-“No syrup equals that of myrtle … in relieving pain of the Lungs and Cough.” (Avicenna)

4. Clears Phlegm, Resolves Masses: (leaf)
-Scrofula, Fibroids and Cysts
-Tumors and Cancer of the Breast, Liver, Spleen, Colon, Uterus, Throat, Gum etc. (Duke)

5. Benefits the Heart:
-Tachycardia or Palpitations; relieves Cardiac debility. (fruit)
-“Strengthens the Heart and removes Palpitation”. (Avicenna)

6. Resists Poison:
-venomous Bites; Snake, Scorpion and Spider bite (Avicenna) (leaf, berry)
-the syrup taken before drinking wine prevents intoxication (Avicenna)

7. Kills Worms:
-adjunct for Worms
   
9. Externally:
SKIN:
-leaves powdered ‘cure Stinking Arm-holes and Groins, abate violent Sweat’ (Salmon said taken internally it does the same)
-“Its dry leaves remove stench of the armpits and groins”. (Avicenna)
-“When used with olive oil, it gives relief in hot Inflammations, Erysipelas, Herpes, Pimples, Urticaria, Wounds of the palms and Burns”. (Avicenna)
-Eczema, flaky skin conditions including Dandruff, Morphew (fruit decoction as a wash)
–the ash clears Freckles and skin blemishes
-oil is applied to Boils.
-oil is applied to Warts.
HEAD, SENSE ORGANS:
-bleeding of the Nose, Polyps
–Sore, Red, Watering and Inflamed Eyes. (leaf, berries, Salmon)
–wash and gargle for sore Mouth and Apthae
-Fruit strengthens the teeth and gums
–oil or leaf decoction is used topically for Earache and Tinnitus
TRAUMA:
-Fractures; Dislocations, weakness of the Limbs. (berries, oil)
-hot compresses of the leaves have been applied to Bruises.
JOINTS:
-“Its fruits, cooked with wine and turned into a plaster, are helpful in the faccidity of Joints”. (Avicenna)
-essential oil is use for Arthritis and Rheumatism
HAIR, COSMETIC
-oil is used in hair preparations, for strengthening and dying the hair; applied to Alopecia and Baldness (infused oil, essential oil)
-“Its oil specially its fruits, extract or decoction strengthen the roots of the hair, prevents their loss and lengthens and darkens them”. (Avicenna)
ULCERS, TUMORS:
-Genital Tumors (Lonicerus, 1564)
-decoction is a useful wash for Foetid Ulcers
-topically for Gangrene.
OTHER:
-Prolapses of the Uterus and Anus (berries in decoction)
-leaves were used in baths for Dysentery.
-applied to Piles (fomentation)


Dose:


Myrtle Berries: 3–5 grams

Preparation:


Sometimes Myrtle berries or seed were roasted or torrefied for use. This makes them more astringent and less irritating, and was used for Diabetes and Incontinence in particular.

Correctives:


1. Barberry
2. Mulberry leaf

Substitutes:


1. Bistort root
2. Extract of myrtle is the substitute for myrtle seeds. (Avicenna)

Main Combinations:


1. Hemoptysis, Myrtle with Plantain seed
2. Chronic Diarrhea:
i. Myrtle with parched Chebulic Myrobalan
ii. Myrtle berry wine, Sumach and Honey, boil the Sumach in the Wine until thick, strain and add Honey. (Asclepias)
iii. Myrtle berry, Sumach, Acacia, Tamarisk fruit
iv. Myrtle with Pomegranate flower, Sumac, Indian Spikenard, Coriander, Celery seed, Gall (as in Powder for Chronic Diarrhea of Nicholas)
3. Diabetes: Myrtle seed with Coriander, Rose, Pomegranate (as in Powder for Diabetes of Unani)
4. Incontinence: Myrtle berry torrefied with Cypress nut, Coriander, Red Coral, Amber, Tabasheer, Cyperus, Galangal (as in Electuary for Incontinence)
5. Infertility, Myrtle berry with Agnus Castus, Peony root, Coriander, Conserve of Rose (as in Electuary Against Sterility)

Major Formulas


Powder for Diabetes (Unani)
Powder for Chronic Diarrhea (Nicholas)
Troches of Ramich (Mesue)
Pills Against Fluxes (Nicolas)
Electuary for Incontinence (Riverius)
Electuary Against Sterility (Renodeus)
Restorative of Nicholas (Pleres Arconticon) (Nicholas)

Cautions:


None noted

Main Preparations used:


Syrup of Myrtles, Infused Oil of Myrtle Leaves
  • Extra Info
  • History
‘Amongst the ancients the Myrtle was a phallic emblem sacred to Venus, at the festival of Myrrha, the incestuous mother of Adonis, married women wore wreaths of the leaves; and in Virgil’s infernal regions the victims of love concealed themselves among the myrtles. At Rome this plant was not allowed to be placed upon the altar of Bona Dea, but at the festivals of Eleusis every one was crowned with it; it was supposed not only to inspire love, but to maintain it.

According to a Greek myth, the nymph Myrsine, having outstripped Athene in a race, was turned into a myrtle bush by the goddess, who, however, repenting of her cruelty afterwards, became particularly attached to the plant. The Romans, after they had intended fighting for the Sabine women whom they had carried off, purified themselves with sprigs of myrtle, idce tunc lecta (says Pliny) quoneam conjuctioni et huic arbori prceest Venus. Pliny also tells us that Romulus planted two myrtles at Rome, one of which afterwards became the favourite of the patricians, and the other of the people; when the former had the upper hand the plebeian myrtle withered, but when the power of the latter was in the ascendant the patrician myrtle faded. Before pepper was known myrtle berries were employed as a spice to season food, and wine was flavoured with them. For many other superstitions concerning the myrtle extending down to modern times, see De Gabernatis (Myth, des Plantes, II., 233).

The myrtle occupies a prominent place in the writings of Hippocrates, Pliny, Dioscorides, Galen, and the Arabian writers. Pliny furnishes an account of it, of which the following is a summary: The berries arrest haemoptoe; they are used in dysentery and as an application to indolent ulcers and inflamed eyes; and in wine are an antidote to the poison of mushrooms; they also cure the bites of scorpions, inflammation of the bladder, headaches, abscesses, aphthae, leucorrhcea, and other mucous discharges. The juice is diuretic, but constipates. An ointment made with it cures eruptions of the skin and darkens the hair. The dried leaves in powder arrest sweats; in fomentations check the white flux, correct prolapsus of the womb and rectum, and are employed to cure ulcers, burns,
erysipelas, otorrhoea, alopecia, and eruptions of the skin, to arrest haemorrhage, and as an application to lentigo, pterygion, panaris, condylomata, and swelled testicles. A wine made from the berries was used for most of these purposes, and was regarded as tonic. This catalogue of virtues is repeated, but hardly enlarged, by subsequent ancient writers, who, however, following Galen, ascribe to myrtle the opposite qualities of cold and hot, or astringent and stimulant, the former residing chiefly in the leaves, the latter in the berries.

In 1876 attention was directed to the medicinal properties of the plant by Delioux de Savignac, who recommended an infusion or diluted tincture of the leaves as an astringent lotion, and the finely powdered leaves as an application to ulcers, &c. He also used the powder in doses of 1 to 4 grams internally in chronic catarrh of the bladder and in menorrhagia; and the infusion in chronic bronchitis. The Oxymyrsine or “wild myrtle,” mentioned by the ancients, the Aas-el-bari of Mahometan writers, is not a myrtle, but the Ruscua aculeatus or ” butcher’s broom.”

Of late years the volatile oil of myrtle leaves has been brought to notice as an antiseptic and rubefacient when used externally; given internally, in small doses (0.06 to 0.09 gram), it promotes digestion like myrtle berries, but in large doses it acts as an irritant. It is excreted by the kidneys and through the respiratory tracts, and communicates a peculiar odour to the urine. According to Lauder Brunton the urine of persons taking it gives a precipitate with nitric acid; he considers that like copaiba it may be used as an expectorant in chronic bronchitis with profuse expectoration and in chronic inflammation of the bladder or urethra. It is best administered in gelatine capsules containing 4 to 5 drops of the oil. The fragrant water distilled from the flowers and leaves is known in France as Eaud’ange. According to Brannt, the manufacturers of volatile oils in Southern France place a myrtle water upon the market which is actually prepared from the oil.’ (Pharmacographia Indica, Dymock, 1891)