i68 
PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
/Marjoram 
0 ) 
Here’s flowers for you ; 
Hot Lavender, Mints, Savory, Marjoram. 
Winter's Tale , iv. 4, 103. 
(2) Lear. 
Give the word. 
Sweet Marjoram. 
Pass .—King Lear, iv. 6, 93. 
Edgar. 
Lear . 
( 3 ) 
The Lily I condemned for thy hand, 
And buds of Marjoram had stolen thy hair .—Sonnet xcix. 
(4) Indeed, sir, she was the sweet Marjoram of the Salad, or rather the 
Herb-of-grace.— All's Well that Ends Well , iv. 5, 17. 
In Shakespeare’s time several species of Marjoram were 
grown, especially the Common Marjoram (Origanum vulgare\ 
a British plant, the Sweet Marjoram ( O. Marjorana ), a plant 
of the South of Europe, from which the English name comes, 1 
and the Winter Marjoram ( O . Heracleoticum). They were all 
favourite pot herbs, so that Lyte calls the common one “a 
delicate and tender herb,” “a noble and odoriferous plant;” 
but, like so many of the old herbs, they have now fallen into 
disrepute. The comparison of a man’s hair to the buds of 
Marjoram is not very intelligible, but probably it was a way of 
saying that the hair was golden. 
/©argbufcs, see /i!>adgolD 
1 See “ Catholicon Anglicum,” s.v. Marioron and note. 
