PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 20$ 
Two very distinct trees are named in these passages. In the 
last five the reference is to the true Palm of Biblical and class¬ 
ical fame, as the emblem of victory, and the typical repre¬ 
sentation of life and beauty in the midst of barren waste and 
deserts. And we are not surprised at the veneration in which 
the tree was held, when we consider either the wonderful grace 
of the tree, or its many uses in its native countries, so many, 
that Pliny says that the Orientals reckoned three hundred and 
sixty uses to which the Palm-tree could be applied. Turner, 
in 1548, said : “I never saw any perfit Date tree yet, but onely 
a little one that never came to perfection ! ” 1 and whether 
Shakespeare ever saw a living Palm tree is doubtful, but he 
may have done so. ( See Date.) Now there are a great num¬ 
ber grown in the large houses of botanic and other gardens, the 
Palm-house at Kew showing more and better specimens than 
can be seen in any other collection in Europe: even the 
open garden can now boast of a few species that will endure 
our winters without protection. Chamczrops humilis and For- 
tunei seem to be perfectly hardy, and good specimens may 
be seen in several gardens; Corypha australis is also said 
to be quite hardy, and there is little doubt but that the 
Date Palm (. Phosnix dactylifera :), which has long been natur¬ 
alized in the South of Europe, would live in Devonshire and 
Cornwall, and that of the thousand species of Palms growing 
in so many different parts of the world, some will yet be found 
that may grow well in the open air in England. 
But the Palm tree in No. 1 is a totally different tree, and 
much as Shakespeare has been laughed at for placing a Palm 
tree in the Forest of Arden, the laugh is easily turned against 
those who raise such an objection. The Palm tree of the 
Forest of Arden is the 
“ Satin-shining Palm 
On Sallows in the windy gleams of March ” 
Idylls of the King —Vivien. 
that is, the Early Willow ( Salix caprea ), and I believe it is so 
1 “ Names of Herbes,” s.v. Palma. 
