82 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
JDoabevn?* 
(.Dramatis persona in Much Ado About Nothing.) 
The Dogberry is the fruit either of the Cornus sanguined or 
of the Euonymus Europceus. Parkinson limits the name to 
the Cornus, and says : “We for the most part call it the Dogge 
berry tree , because the berries are not fit to be eaten, or to be 
given to a dogge.” The plant is only named by Shakespeare 
as a man’s name, but it could scarcely be omitted, as I agree 
with Mr. Milner that it was “ probable that our dramatist had 
the tree in his mind when he gave a name to that fine fellow 
for a ‘sixth and lastly,’ Constable, Dogberry of the Watch” 
(“Country Pleasures,” p. 229). 
