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Stalks of bog myrtle, with clusters of yellowish-brown catkins

Bog myrtle © Paul Harris/2020VISION

Bog-myrtle

Bog-myrtle, also known as sweet gale, is a small shrub that is native to wet heaths and bogs across the Northern Hemisphere.

Enw gwyddonol

Myrica gale

Pryd i'w gweld

All year, but best from April to September.

Species information

Category

Ystadegau

Height: up to 2.5 m

Ynghylch

Bog-myrtle is a shrub that has had various uses throughout history. It was used by brewers to flavour ale before hops were widely available, for candle making, and as an insect repellent, due to the distinctive scent that is released when the foliage is rubbed together. People in Scotland and Ireland would crush its leaves and rub it on themselves to ward off swarming midges.

Bog-myrtle grows on wet heaths, blanket bogs and other damp, open places with moving groundwater. It thrives in the wet, oceanic climate of western parts of the UK, particularly Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Sut i'w hadnabod

A small, branching shrub with rounded, oblong leaves and dark reddish-brown stems. The leaves are lost in the winter months. It produces clusters of yellowish-brown catkins that open in spring. When the foliage is rubbed, it releases a powerful, resinous scent that is unique to this plant.

Dosbarthiad

Widely distributed across the northern and western parts of the UK, most commonly in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Locally distributed across other parts of England.

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

Bog-myrtle is the main food plant of the rosy marsh moth. This rare moth was thought to have been lost from the UK, with the last sighting coming from a Cambridgeshire wetland in 1850. It was rediscovered in mid-Wales in 1965, when a holidaying scientist found a single adult. In 1967, a breeding colony was found at a bog 60 miles away, with another population discovered in Cumbria in 2005. Bog-myrtle is also eaten by many other caterpillars, including those of the fox moth, emperor moth and Rannoch brindled beauty.