Can this Myrica plant benefit the Scottish Highlands?
Welcome to my blog, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
The plant bog myrtle or to use it’s Latin name Myrica Gale may help revive the rural econony in the Scottish Highland. Boots the Chemist are using essential oil from the plant in their sensitive skincare range. At present the bog myrtle grows wild but this will not produce enough oil so there are plans to cultivate the crop. Evidently the boggy Highland soil means that the plant has a higher oil yield.
What made me laugh is the premise that the plant should be known by it’s supposedly more appealing name of sweet gale, as it is felt that the bog part of bog myrtle is unappealing. I think a better solution would be to use the Latin name of Myrica Gale especially as one of the advertised properties of the skin cream will be anti-ageing and Myrica sounds very similar to miracle.
On a more serious note I think that projects which can inject money and jobs into rural areas by utilising the natural attributes of a region are a marvelous thing. However it could also be an opportunity for some small businesses to capitalise on the publicity of the Bog Mrytle and manufacture some products locally to sell locally instead of the oil just being used by a large company. This would be especially useful to visitors during the midgie season as the oil can greatly reduce the number of bites by the insects. The plant can also be used to flavour a beer so a local brew could be served. I think that products like this add to visitors’ holiday enjoyment and experience.
