schively] PLANTS MENTIONED IN SHAKESPEARE 



379 



"Bold oxlips and crown imperial." 



The Winter's Tale IV — 4 — 125. 

 "I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, 

 Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows." 



Midsummer Nights Dream II — 1 — 249. 



Let us next consider a familiar quotation from Hamlet : 

 "Then with fantastic garlands did she come. 

 Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples." 



Hamlet — i" V — 7 — 1 69 . 



We wonder just what flowers Ophelia gathered. We may 

 suppose that she had been in a meadow, for all of these mentioned 

 might have been found growing there. Crow flowers are probably 



Long Purple 



Daisy 



a variety of buttercup, but not exactly that which is so familiar 

 to us. Nettles, might she have plucked because she was not in 

 her right mind, some branches of this weed with its stinging 

 hairs? Perhaps, but some authors state that there are plants 

 bearing white flowers, and known as the dead nettle — a member 

 of the Labiatae — which she might have found. Daisies are 

 probably similar to our own. But long purples puzzles us. Com- 

 mentators do not seem to be of the same opinion. Unfortunately 

 the name "long purples" may popularly refer to two entirely 

 different plants. One is an arum — a relative of Jack-in-t he- 

 pulpit — which is also called the cuckoo-pint. The other, an orchid 



