SHAKESPEARE’S GARDEN 63 
refer to the former—in King John , II. i. 162, where 
we find : 
Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig ; 
and again in the Comedy of Errors , IV. iii. 74, we 
read of 
A nut, a cherry-stone ; 
but more frequently in elegant metaphor, thus: 
So we grew together, 
Like to a double cherry. 
Midsummer-Night's Dream , III. ii. 208. 
And in the same play: 
Thy lips, those kissing cherries, tempting show; 
and again in Pericles , V. i. 8 : 
Twin with the rubied cherry. 
Pliny says this fruit was introduced to Britain by 
the Romans, but Hooker considers all our three 
species wild, viz.. Primus cerasus, L., a small bush 
with red bark found as far south as the Azores, 
and the origin of the Morello, Duke and Kentish 
cherries; P. avium , L., the gean, from which has 
sprung all the garden geans, hearts and bigaroons; 
and, lastly, P. padus, the bird cherry, a close ally 
of the common evergreen cherry-laurel, P. lauro- 
cerasus , L., of which more is said under the heading 
“ Bay.” 
The gooseberry is also a native plant, a member of 
the order Grossulariacese, and a close ally of .the black, 
red, and white currant, none of which are mentioned 
by Shakespeare. The currants mentioned by him 
in The Winter s Tale are the dried fruit of Vitio 
coiinthiaca, L., a species of vine, native of the East, 
and an early and well-known article of commerce- 
