1.
[syn: water shamrock, buckbean, bogbean, bog myrtle, marsh trefoil, Menyanthes trifoliata]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Myrtle \Myr"tle\ (m[~e]r"t'l), n. [F. myrtil bilberry, prop., a
little myrtle, from myrte myrtle, L. myrtus, murtus, Gr.
my`rtos; cf. Per. m[=u]rd.] (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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
bog \bog\ (b[o^]g), n. [Ir. & Gael. bog soft, tender, moist: cf.
Ir. bogach bog, moor, marsh, Gael. bogan quagmire.]
[1913 Webster]
1. A quagmire filled with decayed moss and other vegetable
matter; wet spongy ground where a heavy body is apt to
sink; a marsh; a morass.
[1913 Webster]
Appalled with thoughts of bog, or caverned pit,
Of treacherous earth, subsiding where they tread.
--R. Jago.
[1913 Webster]
2. A little elevated spot or clump of earth, roots, and
grass, in a marsh or swamp. [Local, U. S.]
[1913 Webster]
Bog bean. See Buck bean.
Bog bumper (bump, to make a loud noise), Bog blitter,
Bog bluiter, Bog jumper, the bittern. [Prov.]
Bog butter, a hydrocarbon of butterlike consistence found
in the peat bogs of Ireland.
Bog earth (Min.), a soil composed for the most part of
silex and partially decomposed vegetable fiber. --P. Cyc.
Bog moss. (Bot.) Same as Sphagnum.
Bog myrtle (Bot.), the sweet gale.
Bog ore. (Min.)
(a) An ore of iron found in boggy or swampy land; a
variety of brown iron ore, or limonite.
(b) Bog manganese, the hydrated peroxide of manganese.
Bog rush (Bot.), any rush growing in bogs; saw grass.
Bog spavin. See under Spavin.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
bogbean \bogbean\ n.
a perennial plant of Europe and America (Menyanthes
trifoliata) having racemes of white or purplish flowers and
intensely bitter trifoliate leaves; often rooting at the
water margin and spreading across the surface; -- called also
bog myrtle, water shamrock and marsh trefoil.
Syn: water shamrock, buckbean, bog myrtle, marsh trefoil.
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
bog myrtle
n 1: perennial plant of Europe and America having racemes of
white or purplish flowers and intensely bitter trifoliate
leaves; often rooting at water margin and spreading across
the surface [syn: water shamrock, buckbean, bogbean,
bog myrtle, marsh trefoil, Menyanthes trifoliata]