On 26/11/04 4:33 pm, in article , "anton"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
k...
On 25/11/04 11:27 pm, in article ,
"Rodger Whitlock" wrote:

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 18:22:16 +0000, Sacha
wrote:
snip
And Ray has just recalled someone telling him that Queen Victoria was
said
to gorge herself on the berries of some myrtle or other -- maybe the
lovely,
strawberry scented one or Myrtus lechleriana? A sprig of myrtle was in
her
bouquet and was planted at Osborne House so I wonder which *that* was.

At one time we had here a herb nursery with Myrtus communis supposedly
derived from the sprig in Queen Victoria's wedding bouquet.

Ray's theory on that - which is strictly personal and probably not
verifiable - is that it wouldn't have been Myrtus communis because of the
time of flowering. Victoria was married in February.

'scuse possibly ignorant statement as flouranging not ever been one my
anorakdoms, couldn't the foliage have been used for some of the greenery on
the bouquet, giving a fantastic scent too?

Oh certainly - though the scent of the leaves is a rather musky, sexy scent.
Someone in Greece once called it the scent of Aphrodite. I *think* the
general idea was that she had the flowers in her bouquet, though if it was a
fertility symbol, the myrtle leaves would do just as well, I suppose!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)