bog myrtle

See also: bog-myrtle

English

Alternative forms

• bog-myrtle

Etymology

From bog +‎ myrtle; plants with small evergreen leaves are often named after the myrtle.

Noun

bog myrtle (plural bog myrtles)

1. An herbal shrub with a strong, sweet resinous smell, Myrica gale, that grows in bogs, moors, fens and other wet, acidic environments.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 56:

     There was nothing of that luxuriance of blossom which had hitherto clothed the wood, for there were no hawthorns; but the bog-myrtle imparted its tender fragrance, and the caressing honeysuckle wound round many an ancient trunk, odours exhaling from every fairy-like tube—fit trumpets for the heralds of Titania.

Synonyms

• gale
• sweet gale

Translations

Myrica gale — see gale