Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



given to meditation and reflection. Planted along 

 some narrow path the gentle brushing against the 

 leaves as one passes to and fro calls forth the 

 Rosemary's memory-haunting aroma and forms a sub- 

 conscious background for thought. And, because ever- 

 green, the Rosemary makes its special appeal all the 

 year round. So Perdita, welcoming the pseudo- 

 shepherds, Polixenes and Camillo, gave them gifts of 

 welcome of Rosemary and rue 



" Reverend Sirs, 



For you there's rosemary and rue ; these keep 

 Seeming and savour all the winter long : 

 Grace and remembrance be to you both, 

 And welcome to our shearing." 



The scent of the Rosemary is, of course, due to a 

 certain volatile oil that permeates its tissues, particu- 

 larly those of the younger growing parts and, owing to 

 the presence of this oil, the shrub in olden days had 

 a high medicinal reputation and was largely grown in 

 the gardens of the religious orders, whose care was 

 the sick. A fourteenth century poet refers to it 



" This herb is callet Rosemaryne 

 Of vertu that is gode and fyne," 



while Gerard, who cultivated it in his garden in 1596, 

 tells us that "The oile of Rosemary chemically drawne 

 comforteth the cold, weake and feeble braine, in most 

 wonderful manner"; and also that "The flowers made 



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