The plant-lore & garden-craft of ShakespeareEllacombe, Henry Nicholson
General
The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare
Ellacombe, Henry Nicholson
Gardens in literature; Plants in literature; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Knowledge -- Botany
(2) _Polyxenes._
Then make your garden rich in Gillyvors,
And do not call them bastards.
_Ibid._ (98).
There are two other places in which Carnation is mentioned, but they
refer to carnation colour--_i.e._, to pure flesh colour.
(3) _Quickly._
'A could never abide Carnation; 'twas a colour he never liked.
_Henry V_, act ii, sc. 3 (35).
(4) _Costard._
Pray you, sir, how much Carnation riband may a man buy for a
remuneration?
_Love's Labour's Lost_, act iii, sc. 1 (146).
Dr. Johnson and others have supposed that the flower is so named from
the colour, but that this is a mistake is made very clear by Dr. Prior.
He quotes Spenser's "Shepherd's Calendar"--
"Bring Coronations and Sops-in-Wine
Worn of Paramours."
and so it is spelled in Lyte's "Herbal," 1578, coronations or
cornations. This takes us at once to the origin of the name. The plant
was one of those used in garlands (_coronæ_), and was probably one of
the most favourite plants used for that purpose, for which it was well
suited by its shape and beauty. Pliny gives a long list of garland
flowers (_Coronamentorum genera_) used by the Romans and Athenians, and
Nicander gives similar lists of Greek garland plants (στεφανωματικὰ
ἄνθη), in which the Carnation holds so high a place that it was called
by the name it still has--Dianthus, or Flower of Jove.
Its second specific name, Caryophyllus--_i.e._, Nut-leaved--seems at
first very inappropriate for a grassy leaved plant, but the name was
first given to the Indian Clove-tree, and from it transferred to the
Carnation, on account of its fine clove-like scent. Its popularity as an
English plant is shown by its many names--Pink, Carnation,
Gilliflower[48:1] (an easily-traced and well-ascertained corruption from
Caryophyllus), Clove, Picotee,[48:2] and Sops-in-Wine, from the flowers
being used to flavour wine and beer.[48:3] There is an historical
interest also in the flowers. All our Carnations, Picotees, and Cloves
come originally from the single Dianthus caryophyllus; this is not a
true British plant, but it holds a place in the English flora, being
naturalized on Rochester and other castles. It is abundant in Normandy,
and I found it (in 1874) covering the old castle of Falaise in which
William the Conqueror was born. Since that I have found that it grows on
the old castles of Dover, Deal, and Cardiff, all of them of Norman
construction, as was Rochester, which was built by Gundulf, the special
friend of William. Its occurrence on these several Norman castles make
it very possible that it was introduced by the Norman builders, perhaps
as a pleasant memory of their Norman homes, though it may have been
accidentally introduced with the Normandy (Caen) stone, of which parts
of the castles are built. How soon it became a florist's flower we do
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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