Dense evergreen shrub to 4 m or so tall. Leaves entire, ovate to lanceolate, pointed, 2.5-5 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, dark and shiny above, hairless, fragrant when crushed and covered with translucent gland dots; stalk short or absent. Flowers mostly solitary, fragrant, about 2 cm wide; mostly summer. Stamens about 1 cm long in a dense central cluster. Fruit a blue-black berry (white in the subsp. tarentina) to about 1.25 cm long.

Mediterranean, SW Europe.

subsp. tarentina (L.), Arcangeli, Tarentum Myrtle, has a compact habit, smaller leaves, petals suffused pink, and white berries. This subspecies is sold as the cultivars 'Compacta', 'Microphylla' and 'Nana'.

Source: Spencer, R. (2002). Myrtaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.