Myr·tle n.  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.
 Note: ☞ 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.
 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.

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 Crape n.  A thin, crimped stuff, made of raw silk gummed and twisted on the mill.  Black crape is much used for mourning garments, also for the dress of some clergymen.
    A saint in crape is twice a saint in lawn.   --Pope.
 Crape myrtle Bot., a very ornamental shrub (Lagerstroemia Indica) from the East Indies, often planted in the Southern United States. Its foliage is like that of the myrtle, and the flower has wavy crisped petals.
 Oriental crape. See Canton crape.


 crape myrtle
      n : ornamental shrub from eastern India commonly planted in the
          southern United States [syn: crepe myrtle, {crepe
          flower, Lagerstroemia indica]