Myrtle

Myrtus communis L. was named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753 and is the accepted name in Kew’s Plants of the World Online (POWO), which places it in Myrtaceae and recognizes two subspecies, subsp. communis and subsp. tarentina. Dabbaghi and colleagues (Physiological Reports 2023) describe Myrtaceae as a large family of about 5,500 species in 144 genera, and Myrtus as its only genus in Europe; its better-known relatives include eucalyptus and the tea tree of Australia. POWO gives the native range as Macaronesia to Pakistan: the Azores, Madeira, and the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean from Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya through France, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Italy, the Balkans, Greece, Crete, Cyprus, and Türkiye, east to Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and south to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. It has been introduced to California, Texas, Louisiana, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Leeward and Windward Islands, and South Africa’s Cape Provinces. POWO describes it as a shrub or tree of the subtropical biome used as medicine, food, and fuel.

King’s American Dispensatory (1898) describes an evergreen shrub 6 to 8 feet high with grayish, fissured bark, while English Heritage notes that it can reach 4 to 5 m in a sheltered garden. The leaves are opposite, ovate to lance-shaped, glossy, and, held up to the light, dotted with tiny translucent oil glands; Dabbaghi and colleagues give their length as 2 to 5 cm. The fragrant flowers grow singly from the leaf axils, star-shaped, white or pale pink, with a conspicuous puff of numerous stamens. The fruit is a round, bluish-black berry with two or three chambers and several kidney-shaped seeds, and King’s noted that flowers, leaves, and berries are all fragrant while the bark is astringent. Dabbaghi and colleagues describe pollination by insects and seed dispersal by birds. On Corsica, where it is a shrub of the maquis scrubland, the Corsican distiller Maison Damiani reports flowering in June and small black, resinous, peppery berries in November and December. English Heritage advises a warm, dry, free-draining site, reflecting the plant’s Mediterranean origins, and says it has been cultivated in Britain since the sixteenth century.

The leaves carry an essential oil. King’s recorded a yield of 0.56% of greenish oil from leaves and twigs, and Yarahmadi and colleagues (Plants 2024) found 0.48 to 1.48% across 12 wild Iranian populations, with 1,8-cineole at 22 to 46%, alpha-pinene at 19 to 36%, linalool at 8 to 19%, and alpha-terpineol at 5 to 9%. Other regions produce a different profile: Barboucha and colleagues (International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2025) analyzed an Algerian oil that was 58% myrtenyl acetate and only 18% cineole, and a review by Al-Snafi and colleagues (Naunyn-Schmiedeberg’s Archives of Pharmacology 2024) cites Montenegrin samples with 5 to 22% myrtenyl acetate. Myrtle oil is therefore not one standard product, and its cineole content varies widely. The same review describes leaf compounds called myrtucommulones, a family of acylphloroglucinols labeled A to L, along with triterpenes, and berries whose skins are rich in anthocyanin pigments and tannins. The 1918 Dispensatory of the United States named pinene, cineol, and myrtenol in the oil.

Myrtle was the plant of Venus. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder wrote that the Romans and Sabines purified themselves with myrtle sprigs at the place where, in his day, the statues of Venus Cluacina stood, that Venus, who presides over unions, was the tree’s tutelary divinity, and that two ancient myrtles, the Patrician and the Plebeian, grew before the temple of Quirinus. He also recorded that Posthumius Tubertus entered Rome in an ovation crowned with the myrtle of Venus Victrix, and that ovation wreaths were made of myrtle from then on; household gods, the Lares, were crowned with it too. King’s American Dispensatory adds that myrtle was worn by Athenian judges, wreathed for victors in Greece and Rome, and that an Islamic tradition held that Adam carried a sprig of myrtle out of Eden. English Heritage notes a gold myrtle wreath from Vergina in northern Greece dating to between 300 and 30 BC. In Persian medicine, Qaraaty and colleagues (DARU 2014) write that Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine, completed in 1025, called the plant mourd or aas and the fruit habb al-aas, and that later Persian pharmacopoeias of 1765 and 1781 gave a recipe for myrtle fruit syrup.

Myrtle has a place in Jewish ritual and royal weddings. Leviticus 23:40 commands the taking of “a branch of a thick tree” at Sukkot, and Maimonides, in the twelfth-century Mishneh Torah, identified it as the myrtle whose leaves cover its wood, with three or more leaves on one stem; a branch whose leaves grow in opposite pairs with the third leaf above them is not “thick” and is called wild myrtle. The festival bundle holds three myrtle branches, two willow branches, and a palm frond, held with a citron. King’s also mentions myrtle as a token of peace and a bridal decoration among Jews. In Britain, English Heritage tells how Prince Albert’s grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, gave Queen Victoria a nosegay containing myrtle in 1845, and a sprig was raised into the bush that still grows at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Myrtle carried a German association with innocence, and in 1858 the Queen’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, married with orange flowers and myrtle. Royal brides since, including Elizabeth II, Diana, Catherine, and Meghan, have carried myrtle in their bouquets, traditionally from the Osborne plant.

Medicinal use revived in nineteenth-century Europe. King’s credits the French physician Delioux de Savignac with reintroducing myrtle in 1876, and the Eclectic physicians used it for excess mucous discharges, fetid bronchitis (giving the oil in 2-minim capsules), hemorrhoids, and heavy menstrual bleeding; the French distilled a perfumed water called eau d’ange from the leaves and flowers. King’s also records that “myrtol” was once thought to be a single constituent of the oil but was really a mixture of pinene, cineol, and dipentene. The 1918 Dispensatory of the United States described myrtol as the fraction of myrtle oil distilling at 160 to 180 °C and recommended it, at 1 to 2 minims in capsules several times a day, as an antiseptic for the lungs and urinary tract in chronic bronchitis, cystitis, and pyelitis. Today’s Myrtol capsules reuse the name for a different mixture made mainly from eucalyptus and orange oils. Meanwhile myrtle stayed in the kitchen: King’s noted that leaves, berries, and twigs flavored food and wine, and Sardinian and Corsican families still macerate the berries in spirit to make mirto.

Myrtle’s essential oil behaves in the laboratory much like other cineole-rich oils, but there are no human studies of the oil on its own. Dănilă and colleagues (Molecules 2026) tested a myrtle leaf oil containing about 42% eucalyptol and 21% alpha-pinene: it was active mainly against Gram-positive bacteria and the yeast Candida parapsilosis, and was not toxic to human skin cells at concentrations up to 125 µg/ml. Li and colleagues (Pharmaceuticals 2024) found that a myrtle oil blocked two common-cold coronaviruses, 229E and OC43, in cell culture with low toxicity to the cells, but it had no effect in the SARS-CoV-2 systems they tested. Test-tube activity like this is common among essential oils and does not show that inhaling, swallowing, or rubbing on myrtle oil treats an infection. The oil’s main compound, 1,8-cineole, is the same one found in eucalyptus oil, which EMA accepts for cough with a cold only as a traditional remedy, based on long use rather than trials.

The leaves also contain myrtucommulones, unusual compounds that have drawn pharmacological interest. Knauthe and colleagues (International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2022) describe myrtucommulone A as an acylphloroglucinol, chemically related to hyperforin from St John’s wort, and found that it inhibited Wnt/beta-catenin signaling and anchorage-independent growth in colon cancer cells at concentrations up to 10 micromolar without major toxicity. Al-Snafi and colleagues summarize work showing that myrtucommulone A and a related compound, semimyrtucommulone, inhibit two enzymes that make inflammatory messengers, 5-lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase-1, at micromolar concentrations in laboratory assays. The berries contribute anthocyanins and other polyphenols with antioxidant activity in the test tube, and Tuberoso and colleagues (Food Chemistry 2013) found that liqueurs made by cold maceration of the berries relaxed isolated blood vessels by about half. None of these findings has been tested in people, and we found no studies of how myrtle’s own compounds are absorbed or handled by the human body.

For the Myrtol capsules, the pharmacology belongs to the mixture. The product’s German prescribing information (Fachinformation) reports that cineole, limonene, and alpha-pinene reach peak levels in the blood one to three hours after a dose, with cineole exposure about 20 times that of the others; with myrtle oil at about 1% of the distillate, most of that cineole comes from eucalyptus oil and the limonene from orange oil. In animal experiments by Begrow and colleagues (Advances in Therapy 2012), the distillate sped up the beating of the tiny hairs (cilia) lining rat airways and the clearance of mucus in mice. Han and colleagues (American Journal of Rhinology and Allergy 2009) gave 900 mg a day for 10 days to 22 people with chronic nonallergic rhinitis and found faster mucus transport through the nose and better nasal airflow than in 10 untreated controls, although the distillate did not change ciliary beating in cultured cells. Seibel and colleagues (Planta Medica 2023), from a competing manufacturer, found in three beagle dogs that taking the capsules with food delayed absorption.

Coughs and sinusitis are where the name myrtle appears in good trials, but the product tested is the eucalyptus–orange–myrtle–lemon distillate. Gillissen and colleagues (Drug Research 2013) randomized 413 people with acute bronchitis to GeloMyrtol forte, 300 mg four times a day, or placebo for 14 days. After about a week, coughing fits had fallen by 62.1% on the distillate and 49.8% on placebo, and the distillate also brought faster improvement, fewer daytime fits, less disturbed sleep, and better bronchitis severity scores, with good tolerability. Pfaar and colleagues (Laryngoscope 2023) randomized 463 people with acute viral rhinosinusitis to one capsule four times a day or placebo; symptom scores were better by day 4, and remission came about three days sooner, although sense of smell improved equally in both groups. That trial was funded by the manufacturer, G. Pohl-Boskamp, and two authors were company employees. A later manufacturer-funded trial in 2025 in outpatients with COVID-19 missed its main goal of reducing coughing fits. None of these results can be credited to myrtle, which makes up about 1% of the capsule.

Heavy menstrual bleeding is the best-studied use of myrtle on its own, drawing on its place in Iranian traditional medicine. Qaraaty and colleagues (DARU 2014) ran a randomized, double-blind pilot trial in women with heavy or prolonged bleeding: 35 were randomized and 30 finished. The myrtle group took a fruit syrup, 5 ml three times a day for seven days from the start of each period, for three cycles. Bleeding days fell from 10.6 to 8.2 and pads used from 22.7 to 16.4, and quality of life improved, while the placebo group did not change significantly. These were before-and-after comparisons within each small group rather than a robust head-to-head difference. In India, Umarami and colleagues (Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine 2020) randomized 40 women with heavy periods to powdered myrtle fruit, called habbul aas in Unani medicine, or the standard drug tranexamic acid for the first five days of two cycles, with only patients blinded; both reduced blood loss scores. Two small trials do not establish an effect, and heavy bleeding can signal fibroids, a bleeding disorder, or anemia that needs proper diagnosis.

Mouth ulcers have one encouraging trial. Babaee and colleagues (Clinical Oral Investigations 2010) studied 45 people with recurrent aphthous stomatitis, the common painful canker sores. Each person used a placebo paste during one ulcer episode and a myrtle paste during the next, four times a day for six days. With myrtle, ulcers shrank more and pain, redness, and discharge eased more than with placebo, and no side effects were reported. Mahboubi (Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2016) notes that Iranian traditional medicine called these ulcers gholaa and counted myrtle among its best-known treatments for them. A single, small trial cannot show that a myrtle paste works as well as standard treatments, and it compared myrtle only with a placebo paste, not with the steroid or antiseptic preparations a dentist might suggest. Ulcers that last longer than a few weeks, or come with fever or feeling unwell, should be checked by a dentist or doctor.

Other trials are small or negative. Malekuti and colleagues (Journal of Complementary and Integrative Medicine 2019) randomized 134 women in Tehran with grade I or II internal hemorrhoids after childbirth to a myrtle ointment or a standard anti-hemorrhoid ointment, applied rectally twice a day for four weeks, under triple blinding. Symptoms improved in both groups with no difference in severity or quality of life, although itching was lower and satisfaction higher with myrtle. A 2026 trial of a cream combining myrtle with three other herbs found no difference from the comparison cream, and only 49 of 110 randomized patients were analyzed. Paknejad and colleagues (Phytotherapy Research 2021) added a myrtle fruit syrup or a placebo syrup to omeprazole in children aged 1 to 7 with reflux disease, and reflux scores did not differ after eight weeks, though fewer children in the myrtle group refused to eat. Kamali and colleagues (BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 2026) gave 500 mg capsules of a myrtle extract or placebo for four weeks to 50 nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s disease and reported higher scores on a standard cognitive test (23.4 versus 19.6 on the Mini-Mental State Examination), an unusually large effect for so short and small a study that needs independent confirmation.

Several things are missing. We found no trial of myrtle alone for cough, bronchitis, or sinusitis, and no EMA herbal monograph setting a medicinal dose for myrtle leaf, fruit, or oil. Laboratory reports of antimicrobial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory activity have not been followed by human trials of those effects. In skin care, Dănilă and colleagues found that their myrtle oil caused no irritation in human patch tests, but only after dilution to 0.05% in ethanol, so the test says nothing about stronger mixtures. Myrtle’s main role today is culinary and cultural. In the United States, federal food regulations list myrtle leaves among the natural flavorings permitted only in alcoholic beverages, and in Sardinia and Corsica the berries, and sometimes the leaves, are made into mirto liqueur. In Britain it has been a garden plant since the sixteenth century, and the Osborne bush supplied a royal bridal bouquet as recently as 2018. Anyone looking for a cough remedy with better evidence will find more on the eucalyptus, thyme, and pelargonium pages.

Traditional myrtle preparations used in trials were simple. Qaraaty and colleagues made their syrup from a recipe in Persian pharmacopoeias of the eighteenth century: 63 g of dried myrtle fruit soaked for 24 hours in 200 ml of water, boiled for 15 minutes, strained, and sweetened with 108 g of sugar, taken as 5 ml three times a day for a week from the start of each period. The Indian trial used powdered fruit, the mouth ulcer trial a paste applied to the sore four times a day, and the hemorrhoid trial an ointment used twice daily, while the Alzheimer’s trial used 500 mg capsules of a standardized water-alcohol extract. None of these is a standardized product with a stated content of active compounds, and doses differ between studies. The Eclectic physicians gave myrtle oil by mouth in 2-minim capsules, but that historical practice is not a modern recommendation, and the essential oil sold today for aromatherapy is not made or labeled for swallowing.

GeloMyrtol forte is the commercial product most people will meet. According to its German prescribing information, each enteric-coated soft capsule contains 300 mg of a distillate of rectified eucalyptus, sweet orange, myrtle, and lemon oils (66:32:1:1). It is sold without prescription in pharmacies to loosen mucus in acute and chronic bronchitis and in sinusitis, for adults and children from age 6. Adults take three to four capsules a day for acute symptoms and two to three for chronic ones, with lower doses for children aged 6 to 12, half an hour before meals with plenty of cold liquid. The capsule contents must not be inhaled, and they contain sorbitol, which matters for people with hereditary fructose intolerance. A lower-strength 120 mg version is sold under the name Myrtol. In the beagle study, food delayed absorption, with peak levels after six to eight hours, consistent with the advice to take it before meals.

Mirto, the myrtle liqueur of Sardinia and Corsica, is the most familiar way to taste the plant. Montoro and colleagues (Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 2006) studied berry extracts made by a typical Sardinian recipe and found that the anthocyanins, which give the liqueur its color, were the least stable compounds, recommending that it be drunk within about three months. Tuberoso and colleagues found that cold-macerated berry liqueurs were rich in polyphenols, about 1.7 g per liter measured as gallic acid equivalents, but this is a laboratory measure, not evidence of a health effect, and mirto remains an alcoholic drink; the Corsican Fleur de Myrte from Maison Damiani, made from leaves and fruit, is 30% alcohol by volume. Practical points: buy plants and products labeled Myrtus communis, keep essential oils in their original child-resistant bottles out of reach, never swallow them, and dilute them in a carrier oil before any skin use, as Poison Control advises for essential oils in general.