122 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
found in the New World. A few plants of Calluna vulgaris 
have been found in Newfoundland and Massachusetts, but 
that is not a true Heath. 
As a garden plant the Heath has been strangely neglected. 
Many of the species are completely hardy, and will make 
pretty evergreen bushes of from 2 ft. to 4 ft. high, but they are 
better if kept close-grown by constant clipping. The species 
best suited for this treatment are E. Mediterranean E. arborea , 
and E . codonoides. Of the more humble-growing species, 
E. vagans (the Cornish Heath) will grow easily in most 
gardens, though in its native habitat it is confined to the 
serpentine formation ; nor must we omit E . herbacea , which 
also will grow anywhere, and, if clipped yearly after flowering, 
will make a most beautiful border to any flow T er-bed; or it 
may be used more extensively, as it is at Doddington Park, 
in Gloucestershire (Sir Gerald Codrington’s), w r here there is 
a large space in front of the house, several yards square, 
entirely filled with E. herbacea. When this is in flower (and 
it is so for nearly tw r o months, or sometimes more) the effect, 
as seen from above, is of the richest Turkey carpet, but 
of such a colour and harmony as no Turkey carpet ever 
attained. 
Several of the South-European Heaths were cultivated in 
England in Shakespeare’s time. 
•fcebenon, or iftebona . 1 
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole, 
With juice of cursed Hebenon in a vial, 
And in the porches of my ear did pour 
The leperous distilment; whose effect 
Holds such an enmity with blood of man 
That swift as quicksilver it courses through 
The natural gates and alleys of the body, 
And with a sudden vigour it doth posset 
1 Ilebona is the reading of the First Quarto (1603) and of the Second 
Quarto (1604), and is decided by the critics to be the true reading. 
