GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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Found 2 definitions 

  1.       

    Myrtle , n. [F. myrtil bilberry, prop., a little myrtle, from myrte myrtle, L. myrtus, murtus, Gr. μύρτος; cf. Per. mūrd.] (Bot.) A species of the genus Myrtus, especially Myrtus communis. The common myrtle has a shrubby, upright stem, eight or ten feet high. Its branches form a close, full head, thickly covered with ovate or lanceolate evergreen leaves. It has solitary axillary white or rosy flowers, followed by black several-seeded berries. The ancients considered it sacred to Venus. The flowers, leaves, and berries are used variously in perfumery and as a condiment, and the beautifully mottled wood is used in turning.
    1913 Webster
    ☞ The name is also popularly but wrongly applied in America to two creeping plants, the blue-flowered periwinkle and the yellow-flowered moneywort. In the West Indies several myrtaceous shrubs are called myrtle.
    1913 Webster
    Bog myrtle, the sweet gale. -- Crape myrtle. See under Crape. -- Myrtle warbler (Zool.), a North American wood warbler (Dendroica coronata); -- called also myrtle bird, yellow-rumped warbler, and yellow-crowned warbler. -- Myrtle wax. (Bot.) See Bayberry tallow, under Bayberry. -- Sand myrtle, a low, branching evergreen shrub (Leiophyllum buxifolium), growing in New Jersey and southward. -- Wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera). See Bayberry.
    1913 Webster
    
      
    
  2.       

    Periwinkle, n. [OE. pervenke, AS. pervince, fr. L. pervinca.] (Bot.) A trailing herb of the genus Vinca.
    1913 Webster
    ☞ The common perwinkle (Vinca minor) has opposite evergreen leaves and solitary blue or white flowers in their axils. In America it is often miscalled myrtle. See under Myrtle.
    1913 Webster

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