Witnessed by: Unani

Myrtle (Myrtus communis), of the Myrtaceae family. Dense evergreen aromatic shrub with small glossy gland-dotted leaves, white flowers of many stamens, and a berry; native range: the Mediterranean and Near East, from Iberia through the Levant to Iran, on dry stony hillsides; cultivated in Indian gardens. Globally recognized as aas · habb-ul-aas (the berry) · ward-ul-aas (the flower) in Arabic, murd · habb-ul-aas in Persian, habb-ul-aas · vilayati mehndi in Urdu, and myrtle · common myrtle · myrtle berry in English. The part used is the fruit (habb-ul-aas); also the leaf and the flower. Small blue-black to purple berries, shrivelled and wrinkled when dried, crowned by the calyx-teeth; the smell aromatic and balsamic when bruised, the taste astringent and bitterish, drawing the mouth together and leaving it dry.

In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.

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