214 THE SHAKESPEARE GARDEN 



Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow 

 On our sustaining corn. 



Shakespeare's cuckoo-flower is identified as the 

 Ragged Robin, so called from its finely cut blue 

 petals which have a ragged appearance. It is also 

 known as the meadow campion, or Meadow Pink. 

 Parkinson says: "Feathered Campions are called 

 Armor aria pratensis and Flos cuculi. Some call 

 them in English Crow-flowers and Cuckowe Flowers, 

 and some call the double hereof The Fair Maid of 

 France." 



From the above we see why it is that the Ragged 

 Robin has been identified by some authorities as 

 Ophelia's crow-flower; for even Parkinson seems to 

 consider the crow-flower and cuckoo-flower as iden- 

 tical. Some of the old herbalists give the name 

 cuckoo-flower to the lady-smock, which is called 

 cuckoo-buds. The cuckoo's name is given to many 

 flowers: we have the cuckoo-flower, cuckoo- 

 buds, cuckoo' s-bread (wood-sorrel), cuckoo' s-meat, 

 cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum), cuckoo-grass; 

 cuckoo-hood (blue corn-flower), etc. The cuckoo- 

 flower (Ragged Robin) is dedicated to St. Barnabas. 



