Myrtle Meaning: Four 19th-Century Dictionaries Say Love, the Royal Family Says Marriage
Myrtle means love in four 19th-century dictionaries, and the Royal Family adds marriage. See what Venus, the Bible’s hadass, Osborne House and crepe myrtle add.
In short
- Myrtle means love: four 19th-century flower dictionaries give myrtle the meaning “Love”.
- The Royal Family’s notes on the 2011 wedding bouquet call it “the emblem of marriage; love”.
- The Osborne House plant behind royal sprigs traces to a posy Queen Victoria received in 1845.
- Checked against: royal.uk, English Heritage, RHS, NC State Extension.
Myrtle means love. Tyas, Greenaway, Flora’s Pocket Dictionary and Worthington all give myrtle the meaning “Love”, and none of the four gives marriage as the meaning in its myrtle entry. Tyas and Flora’s name the plant Myrtus communis, common myrtle, an evergreen shrub of the Mediterranean. Marriage arrives through other routes. The Royal Family’s notes on the 2011 wedding bouquet call myrtle “the emblem of marriage; love”, and the Talmud has a rabbi dance before a bride with a myrtle branch. The love reading is tied by tradition to Aphrodite and Venus, and hadass, the Hebrew name for the plant, is the myrtle branch of the Sukkot festival.
The royal thread is the one most readers know. Queen Victoria received a myrtle posy at Gotha in 1845, a plant at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight descends from it, and sprigs from that line have gone into many royal bridal bouquets since 1858. This page keeps each tradition apart and says which parts are documented. It belongs to our flower symbolism and meaning guide, and the wedding flowers and their meanings page covers what else goes into a bridal bouquet.
Which myrtle? Common myrtle, crepe myrtle and the Vinca groundcover
“Myrtle” names plants from three different families in English, and only common myrtle carries the love and marriage symbolism on this page. The table sorts the three.
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| Plant | Botanical name and family | Why it is called myrtle | Hardiness | Meaning in the 19th-century dictionaries |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common myrtle | Myrtus communis, Myrtaceae (RHS) | It is the plant of the Venus, hadass and Osborne traditions below, and the one NC State Extension says “can still be found in British wedding bouquets” | RHS rating H4 (−10 to −5 °C); NC State lists USDA zones 8a to 9b | Love, in Tyas, Greenaway, Flora’s and Worthington |
| Crepe (crape) myrtle | Lagerstroemia indica, Lythraceae (NC State Extension) | NC State says the name comes from crepe paper-like petals and from bark and foliage that resemble the myrtle plant | NC State lists USDA zones 6a to 9b | Eloquence, in Flora’s (“Crape Myrtle”) and Greenaway (“Indian Lagerstraemia”); neither Tyas book has an entry |
| Myrtle groundcover | Vinca minor, Apocynaceae (NC State Extension) | “Running Myrtle” is one of its listed common names, and a University of Illinois Extension page is titled “Periwinkle, Myrtle” | NC State lists USDA zones 4a to 9b and says the NC Invasive Plant Council classes it as invasive | Memory and friendship: Tyas “Pleasing Remembrances”, Flora’s “Sweet memories”, Greenaway “Early friendship” for blue |
The table’s main point is that a page giving “myrtle” the meaning of Aphrodite, a bridal bouquet or Sukkot is describing common myrtle, while a page about crepe myrtle or Vinca is describing a different plant. Our crepe myrtle care guide covers Lagerstroemia, and our periwinkle groundcover guide covers Vinca minor.
The dictionaries treat the two look-alikes separately and do not agree with each other on Vinca. Flora’s Pocket Dictionary gives Vinca minor “Sweet memories” in its main list and, by colour, blue “Pleasures of memory” and red or white “Early friendship”, while Greenaway gives blue “Early friendship” and white “Pleasures of memory”. Worthington’s entry is headed “Tender Recollections”.
Myrtle’s meaning in four layers
Myrtle’s meaning was recorded at different times and in different kinds of source, and the table keeps the four layers apart.
| Layer | What the earliest source we read says | Source | Kind of record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Aphrodite and Venus | Venus hides behind a screen of myrtle from satyrs, and Phaedra’s myrtle grows at Troezen | Ovid, Fasti 4; Pausanias 2.32 | Ancient texts, read directly |
| 2. Hebrew hadass | Myrtle branches are among the four species of Sukkot, and a rabbi dances before a bride with one | Mishnah Sukkah 3:4; Talmud Ketubot 17a | Rabbinic texts, read directly |
| 3. 19th-century dictionaries | Myrtle means “Love” | Tyas 1869; Greenaway (undated edition); Flora’s 1870; Worthington 1884 | Printed books, read directly |
| 4. Osborne House and royal bouquets | A posy from Gotha in 1845, then the first known royal bouquet use in 1858 | English Heritage; royal.uk | Heritage-body and Royal Family pages |
The sections below run in order of closeness to a definition, not in the table’s order: the dictionaries first, then the older layers, then the royal one.
What do the 19th-century flower dictionaries say myrtle means?
Myrtle means love in all four dictionaries we read, and none of them gives marriage as the meaning.
- Tyas, The Language of Flowers (1869) has a chapter headed “MYRTLE (Myrtus communis).—LOVE”, with Walter Scott’s line “The Myrtle bough bids lovers live”.
- Greenaway’s Language of Flowers gives “Myrtle: Love”, and its reverse list of sentiments gives “Love” to both Myrtle and Rose.
- Flora’s Pocket Dictionary (1870) gives “Myrtle, Myrtus communis. Love.” Its index files myrtle under “Love” and under “Love in absence”.
- Worthington’s The Language of Flowers (1884) heads its myrtle entry “Love”, and its phrase list gives “I love you. Myrtle.”
Tyas gives a reason in his own words. The myrtle, he writes, banished other plants from the ground it took, so “Love, when ruler of the heart, leaves no room there for any other feeling.” He attributes the observation to the ancients and names no source.
The nearest these books come to marriage is a parlour game. In Worthington’s “Flower Game”, each guest draws a flower from a bouquet, and its meaning describes the character of the person they will marry. Myrtle comes out as “devoted”. Flora’s Pocket Dictionary has its own version of the flower game, and there myrtle is “Self-sacrificing”. Both describe a spouse’s character, not an emblem of the wedding.
Modern lists add marriage. The Iowa State University Extension list gives “Myrtle—Love, Hebrew emblem of marriage”. The phrase “Hebrew emblem of marriage” does not appear in the four books above or in Tyas’s Sentiment of Flowers, which we also searched. The closest documented Hebrew link to marriage is the Talmud passage in the Hebrew section below.
Why is myrtle tied to Aphrodite and Venus?
Myrtle is tied to Aphrodite and Venus by tradition, and the two ancient texts we read show the link as a story, not as a rule.
In Ovid’s Fasti, Venus touches the poet’s brow “With Cytherean myrtle” at the opening of the April book. Ovid then addresses the April 1 rites to “Roman brides and mothers”. The goddess’s statue is stripped of its necklaces and cleansed, and the women are told to bathe “under the green myrtle”. The reason given is that satyrs once spotted Venus drying her hair on a shore, and she “hid her body with a screen of myrtle”. That makes the passage the nearest thing to a marriage link in these two texts, and it describes a bath and a statue’s cleansing, not a wedding wreath.
Pausanias gives a darker story at Troezen. There is a temple of Aphrodite Spy, from which Phaedra, “in love with” Hippolytus, used to watch him exercise. “Here there still grew the myrtle”, Pausanias writes, with leaves “pierced with holes”. When Phaedra was in despair, he says, she “used to vent her spleen upon the leaves of this myrtle”. He adds that her grave is “a barrow near the myrtle”. In this story the myrtle is tied to Phaedra’s despair, not to a wedding.
Victorian authors tell more. Worthington reports, citing Pliny, that the Romans and Sabines laid down their weapons under a myrtle tree and purified themselves with its boughs. Tyas says the chief temple of Venus at Rome stood in a myrtle grove and that Greeks worshipped her as Myrtea. Neither gives a passage we could check, and we did not check Pliny’s own text.
Modern guides add a bridal crown. One plant-gift blog says a crown of myrtle flowers would be placed on the bride’s head, without naming a place, a date or an ancient source. English Heritage says myrtle was used in Roman wedding rituals, a tradition it says began in ancient Greece, and adds that Pliny and Virgil link myrtle to love “though not always in relation to weddings”. Both are traditions, and the Ovid and Pausanias passages above are not wedding scenes.
What is hadass, the myrtle of the Bible?
Hadass is the Hebrew name for myrtle, and the myrtle branch is one of the four species taken on Sukkot. The Talmud gives the plural as hadassim.
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→ View My Garden CalendarThe Bible names the myrtle in several places. Isaiah 55:13 reads “Instead of the nettle, a myrtle shall rise”, and says of the cypress and the myrtle that “These shall stand as a testimony to GOD, As an everlasting sign that shall not perish.” Nehemiah 8:15 lists myrtles among the branches people were told to bring to make booths. Leviticus 23:40, the Sukkot verse, asks for “boughs of leafy trees”, with a note that the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says tradition has “universally identified” those boughs with the myrtle.
The Mishnah sets the count. Rabbi Yishmael says the mitzva is to take three myrtle branches, two willow branches, one lulav and one etrog, while Rabbi Akiva says one myrtle and one willow, matching the single lulav and etrog. The Encyclopaedia Judaica gives current practice as three sprigs of myrtle and two of willow.
The Bible does not explain what the four species stand for. The Encyclopaedia Judaica says they probably stand for the land’s fertility, and it cites a midrashic reading in which the myrtle has odor but no taste, pairing taste and odor with Torah and good works.
Two rabbinic passages tie the myrtle to people. In Megillah 13a, Rabbi Meir says Esther was called Hadassah “on account of the righteous, who are called myrtles”, citing Zechariah 1:8, while Rabbi Yehuda says Hadassah was her real name. In Ketubot 17a, Rabbi Yehuda bar Elai would “take a myrtle branch and dance before the bride, and say: A fair and attractive bride.” Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzhak juggled three myrtle branches instead, and Rabbi Zeira said, “The old man is humiliating us.” That dance is the clearest marriage use of myrtle in the texts we read, and it is a custom for cheering a bride, not a symbol written into a flower dictionary.
What is the Osborne House myrtle?
The Osborne myrtle is a plant at Queen Victoria’s Isle of Wight home that descends from a sprig she received at Gotha in 1845, and many royal brides have carried sprigs from that line since 1858, though not every royal bride.
English Heritage says Prince Albert’s grandmother gave Victoria the myrtle in a posy in 1845. A plaque at Osborne reads that it “was raised from a sprig cut off the Nosegay presented to THE QUEEN on leaving GOTHA Sept. 3rd, 1845”. The Royal Family’s 2011 wedding notes say the same grandmother gave the nosegay and that Victoria and Albert bought Osborne House the same year. They also say the plant was “planted at Osborne House” in 1845, while English Heritage says the myrtle has been grown on the terraces since 1852. The two pages do not conflict on the gift, and they date the planting differently.
| Year | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1845 | Prince Albert’s grandmother gives Queen Victoria a myrtle posy at Gotha | English Heritage; royal.uk |
| 1858 | Princess Victoria, the Queen’s eldest daughter, carries myrtle at her wedding, the first known royal bouquet use | English Heritage; royal.uk |
| 1874 | A sprig is sent to Russia for Grand Duchess Marie’s bridal nosegay | English Heritage, quoting Victoria’s journal |
| 1947 | Princess Elizabeth’s bouquet includes myrtle; a plant later grown from it supplies a sprig for 2011 | royal.uk |
| 2011 | Catherine Middleton’s bouquet holds stems from the Osborne plant and a sprig from the 1947 line | royal.uk |
The royal tradition has a stated meaning. The Royal Family’s notes say the myrtle was first carried in 1858 “to signify the traditional innocence of a bride”, and Osborne’s head gardener calls it “a German tradition that signifies the innocence of the bride”. English Heritage adds that myrtle wreaths became the bridal emblem in 19th-century Germany.
Three popular details do not hold up against these pages. The first is the origin. The San Diego Horticultural Society says Victoria planted a sprig from her own 1840 wedding bouquet, while English Heritage and the Royal Family date the posy to 1845, five years after that wedding. The second is the giver. The Smithsonian Gardens lesson plan says the cutting came from the Queen’s mother-in-law, while the Osborne plaque names Albert’s grandmother. The third is “every royal bride”. English Heritage says Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, carried flowers from Cornwall instead of Osborne myrtle.
What do the other flowers in a royal myrtle bouquet mean?
The Royal Family’s notes list myrtle in the 2011 bouquet with lily-of-the-valley, sweet William and hyacinth, and they give each of those flowers, and ivy, a language-of-flowers meaning.
- Myrtle: “the emblem of marriage; love”.
- Lily-of-the-valley: “Return of happiness”.
- Sweet William: “Gallantry”.
- Hyacinth: “Constancy of love”.
- Ivy: “Fidelity; marriage; wedded love; friendship; affection”.
English Heritage says orange blossom is often paired with myrtle in bridal bouquets, and our orange blossom meaning page sets out what the old dictionaries say about that flower. For how a sprig sits inside different bouquet shapes, see our wedding bouquet styles guide.
How do you grow common myrtle?
Common myrtle needs full sun and a sheltered spot, and in colder areas it needs a warm one. The RHS rates it H4, “hardy through most of the UK (−10 to −5)”, and gives a height of 2.5 to 4 metres with white flowers 2 cm across in mid to late summer or autumn, followed by purplish-black berries. The RHS wants moist but well-drained soil and a west- or south-facing site.
For US gardeners, NC State Extension lists USDA zones 8a to 9b, calls the plant frost tender, and warns that young spring growth can be damaged by a late frost. Osborne’s head gardener, quoted by English Heritage, gives the practical version: in colder areas, plant it against a sunny south-facing wall, because cold winds turn the leaves brown and a prolonged cold spell can kill it outright. The same page says young potted plants can be moved into a greenhouse in a hard freeze, cuttings taken at the end of summer root easily, and clipping the shrub removes its winter berries.
If the plant you mean blooms from July to September with crepe paper-like petals, it is crepe myrtle, and our crepe myrtle care guide is the right page.
Frequently asked questions
What does myrtle symbolize?
Myrtle symbolizes love in all four 19th-century dictionaries we read, and the Royal Family’s 2011 notes add “the emblem of marriage”. Tradition ties it to Aphrodite and Venus, and the royal bouquet use is said to signify a bride’s innocence.
What does myrtle mean in the Bible?
The Bible names the myrtle in Isaiah 55:13, Nehemiah 8:15 and elsewhere, and does not state a single meaning. Tradition identifies the myrtle (hadass) as one of the four species of Sukkot, and the Talmud connects it to Esther’s name Hadassah and to dancing before a bride.
Why do royal brides carry myrtle?
Many royal brides carry myrtle, a custom that began with Princess Victoria in 1858, using a sprig from a plant that descends from a posy Queen Victoria received at Gotha in 1845. The Royal Family’s notes say it signifies “the traditional innocence of a bride”, and not every royal bride has carried Osborne myrtle.
What is the difference between myrtle and crepe myrtle?
Common myrtle (Myrtus communis) is in the Myrtaceae family, and crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) is in the Lythraceae family. NC State says crepe myrtle took its name from crepe paper-like petals and from bark and foliage that resemble myrtle, and Flora’s and Greenaway give it “Eloquence”, not “Love”.
Is the myrtle groundcover the same plant?
No. The groundcover sold as myrtle is Vinca minor, also called periwinkle, in the Apocynaceae family. NC State lists “Running Myrtle” among its common names and says the NC Invasive Plant Council classes it as invasive.
When did the Osborne myrtle tradition start?
The posy was given in 1845, and the first known use in a royal bouquet was at Princess Victoria’s wedding in 1858, according to English Heritage. English Heritage dates the terrace myrtle at Osborne from 1852, and the Royal Family’s notes put the planting in 1845.
Does myrtle mean marriage in the language of flowers?
Not in the four dictionaries we read, which give “Love”. Iowa State University Extension’s modern list says “Love, Hebrew emblem of marriage”, and the Royal Family’s notes say “the emblem of marriage; love”.
Is common myrtle hardy in the US?
NC State Extension lists USDA zones 8a to 9b and calls it frost tender, and the RHS rates it H4 for the UK.
Sources
- Tyas, R. The Language of Flowers: or, Floral Emblems of Thoughts, Feelings, and Sentiments. George Routledge and Sons, 1869. Internet Archive
- Tyas, R. The Sentiment of Flowers; or, Language of Flora. Houlston and Wright. Internet Archive
- Greenaway, K. Language of Flowers. George Routledge and Sons (Project Gutenberg ebook 31591)
- Flora’s Pocket Dictionary: A Lexicon of the Language and Sentiment of Flowers. Porter and Coates, Philadelphia, 1870. Internet Archive
- The Language of Flowers, Including Floral Poetry. R. Worthington, New York, 1884. Internet Archive
- Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Flowers and Their Meanings: The Language of Flowers (last reviewed January 2023). Yard and Garden
- Ovid. Fasti, Book IV, translated by A. S. Kline. Poetry in Translation
- Pausanias. Description of Greece, 2.29-38 (Troezen). Theoi Classical Texts Library
- Leviticus 23:40, The Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (Gender-Sensitive Edition). Sefaria
- Isaiah 55:13, The Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (Gender-Sensitive Edition). Sefaria
- Nehemiah 8:15, The Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (Gender-Sensitive Edition). Sefaria
- Mishnah Sukkah 3:4, William Davidson Edition (English). Sefaria
- Babylonian Talmud, Ketubot 17a, William Davidson Edition (English). Sefaria
- Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 13a, William Davidson Edition (English). Sefaria
- Encyclopaedia Judaica (Gale, 2007). Four Species. Jewish Virtual Library
- The Royal Family. The Wedding Dress, Bridesmaids’ Dresses and Pages’ Uniforms (2011 royal wedding, including the bride’s bouquet)
- English Heritage. The history of Osborne myrtle in royal weddings (26 April 2018)
- Smithsonian Gardens. The Language of Flowers (historic bloom lesson plan)
- Marun, L. Common Myrtle Is Not Just for Royalty. San Diego Horticultural Society, 1 June 2018
- Thorley, J. Myrtle Tree Symbolism. Tree2mydoor, 22 September 2022
- Royal Horticultural Society. Myrtus communis (common myrtle), plant profile
- NC State Extension. Myrtus communis (Common Myrtle). Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- NC State Extension. Lagerstroemia indica (Common Crape Myrtle). Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- NC State Extension. Vinca minor (Common Periwinkle). Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox
- University of Illinois Extension. Periwinkle, Myrtle (Vinca minor)
