Myrtus nivellei, the Saharan myrtle, (Tuareg language: tefeltest), is endemic to the mountains of the central Sahara Desert.

It occurs in small areas of sparse relict woodland at montane elevations above the central Saharan desert plains.

[6] Two hundred and fifty fossil seeds of †Myrtus palaeocommunis have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark.

[8][9] Myrtus communis is used in the islands of Sardinia and Corsica to produce an aromatic liqueur called Mirto by macerating it in alcohol.

Myrtle, along with willow tree bark, occupies a minor place in the writings of Hippocrates, Pliny, Dioscorides, Galen, and the Arabian writers.

[19] Two myths are connected to the myrtle; in the first, Myrsine was a chaste girl beloved by Athena who outdid all the other athletes, so they murdered her in retaliation.

[20] In the second, Myrina was a dedicated priestess of Aphrodite who was either abducted to be married or willingly wished to entered marriage in spite of her vows.

[21][22] In Rome, Virgil explains that "the poplar is most dear to Alcides, the vine to Bacchus, the myrtle to lovely Venus, and his own laurel to Phoebus.

Kabbalists link myrtle to the sefira of Tiferet and use sprigs in their Shabbat (especially Havdalah) rites to draw down its harmonizing power as the week is initiated (Shab.

[26] Myrtle leaves were added to the water in the last (seventh) rinsing of the head in the traditional Sephardic tahara manual (teaching the ritual for washing the dead).

In the Mandaean religion, myrtle wreaths (klila) are used by priests in important religious rituals and ceremonies, such as baptism and death masses (masiqta).

[28] Myrtle wreaths also form part of the darfash, the official symbol of Mandaeism consisting of an olive wooden cross covered with a white silk cloth.

Because of its elegance of habit, appealing odour, and amenity to clipping by the topiarius, as much as for sacred associations, the myrtle was an indispensable feature of Roman gardens.

Alice Coats suggests that this was the very same double that the diarist and gardener John Evelyn noted "was first discovered by the incomparable Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, which a mule had cropt from a wild shrub."

In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, myrtles in cases, pots and tubs were brought out to summer in the garden and wintered with other tender greens in an orangery.

Fairchild, The City Gardener (1722) notes their temporary use, rented from a nurseryman annually to fill an empty fireplace in the warm months.

With the influx to England of more dramatic tender plants and shrubs from Japan or Peru in the 19th century, it was more difficult to find room for the common myrtle of borderline hardiness.