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Common Myrtle at a Glance
Myrtus communis, commonly called common myrtle, is an aromatic evergreen shrub or small tree in the Myrtaceae family. Kew recognizes a native range stretching from Macaronesia and the Mediterranean region eastward toward western and southern Asia. Myrtle has been used for food, fragrance, ceremony and traditional medicine for centuries.
Parts Used
Leaves, berries, seeds and essential oil all appear in traditional and scientific literature. The berries have food and beverage uses, while the leaves are rich in tannins and aromatic compounds. Essential oil is a concentrated preparation and should not be treated as equivalent to whole leaves, berries or aqueous extracts.
Traditional Use
Myrtle has a long history in Mediterranean, Persian and Unani traditions. Historical uses include digestive complaints, diarrhea, mouth and throat irritation, skin conditions, inflammation, respiratory complaints and hemorrhoids. Myrtle also has strong cultural associations with weddings, beauty, love and evergreen symbolism.
Phytochemistry
The plant contains tannins, flavonoids, phenolic acids and numerous volatile compounds. Frequently reported essential-oil constituents include alpha-pinene, 1,8-cineole, myrtenyl acetate, limonene and linalool, although the exact profile varies by geography, plant part and extraction method. Myrtle also contains distinctive compounds such as myrtucommulones that have attracted pharmacological interest.
Human Research
Human evidence is still limited but includes several randomized studies. A controlled trial of a myrtle oral paste reported reductions in pain, redness and ulcer size in recurrent aphthous mouth ulcers. A small trial of freeze-dried berry extract in adults with gastroesophageal reflux disease found symptom improvement, but did not show a clear advantage over omeprazole. A pediatric trial of myrtle fruit syrup added to omeprazole did not show a statistically significant overall reflux-score benefit.
Newer Cognitive Research
A small randomized trial published in 2026 evaluated a standardized hydroalcoholic myrtle extract in 50 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease over four weeks. The intervention group showed better adjusted cognitive scores than placebo, but the groups differed in baseline MMSE scores and the trial was short and small. The result is intriguing and deserves replication; it does not establish myrtle as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease or justify replacing established care.
Other Clinical Research
Small clinical studies have also examined myrtle preparations for hemorrhoid symptoms and heavy menstrual bleeding. These formulation-specific studies add to the human evidence base, but they remain too limited to support broad claims across all myrtle products.
Food & Essential Oil
Myrtle berries are used in foods and traditional beverages in parts of the Mediterranean, while the aromatic leaves may be used as flavoring. Distilled essential oil is much more concentrated. Animal toxicology research shows that high essential-oil exposures can affect the liver and become toxic, so concentrated oil should not be treated like an ordinary culinary herb.
Safety
Food use and short-term use of studied leaf or fruit preparations should be distinguished from concentrated essential oil or high-dose extracts. Reliable pregnancy and breastfeeding safety data for medicinally concentrated products are limited. People with chronic illness or those taking prescription medicines should be cautious about assuming that results from one standardized research extract apply to commercial products with different chemistry.
Bottom Line
Myrtus communis is a classic Mediterranean plant that bridges food, fragrance, tradition and modern herbal research. Human trials exist for mouth ulcers, reflux, hemorrhoids and—most recently—cognitive outcomes, but most are small and formulation-specific. Myrtle's strongest modern story is not that it is a cure-all, but that a very old traditional plant continues to produce testable research questions while still requiring careful separation of food, whole-herb extracts and concentrated essential oil. For educational purposes only.