Bog Myrtle (syn. Gale palustris) grows in marshy areas of Northern Europe. It is a perennial, deciduous shrub with a growth height of 50-150cm. Because of its spicy and earthy flavour, which reminds of bay leaves, bog myrtle leaves were once used as a spice. However, the use as a beer spice is particularly important. Long before the introduction of the German beer purity law, the "Reinheitsgebot", beer was often flavoured with a mixture of aromatic and partly intoxicating herbs. This beer style, the so-called gruit beer owes its name to the plant, which was widely called grut or gruit in ancient times. The leaves are, furthermore, an important source of nutrition for the caterpillars of the heather moth, the clouded buff, and the sweet gale moth. The blossoms are suitable for dying fabrics yellow. Today, the bog myrtle is on the Red List of endangered plant varieties as its habitat - the swamp - is strongly endangered by the drainage and shading as well as the peat extraction.
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