Seona Anderson 11/05/2024 Seona Anderson 11/05/2024

ROSEMARY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, ROSEMARY: dry up your tears and stick your rosemary on this fair corse. Rosemary was used in funeral & marriage rites as well as in medicine and food.

Seona Anderson 08/05/2024 Seona Anderson 08/05/2024

ASS

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day: for, like the ass whose back with ingots bow, thou bear’st thou heavy riches but a journey. Asses or Donkeys feature regularly often an a insult but also metaphorically.

Seona Anderson 06/05/2024 Seona Anderson 06/05/2024

ARABIAN GUM

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, ARABIAN GUM: drops tears as fast as the Arabian trees their medicinable gum. Gum Arabick is still used as a medicine & food additive and comes from a type of Acacia.

Seona Anderson 05/05/2024 Seona Anderson 05/05/2024

CONGER EEL

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CONGER EEL: Hang yourself, you muddy conger, hang yourself! Conger is a food and an insult in Shakespeare. The MSC Good Fish Guide advises avoiding Conger Eels because of sustainability concerns.

Seona Anderson 04/05/2024 Seona Anderson 04/05/2024

MARMOSET

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, MARMOSET: and instruct thee how to snare the nimble marmoset. Marmosets are South American mammals which were exotic pets in the Tudor period. Many species are currently threatened or declining in the wild.

Seona Anderson 04/05/2024 Seona Anderson 04/05/2024

CUCKOO

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CUCKOO: He knows me as the blind man knows the cuckoo. By his bad voice. The arrival of the Cuckoo back in the UK with their distinctive call is becoming less common. BTO tracks cuckoos on their journey back from Africa.

Seona Anderson 04/05/2024 Seona Anderson 04/05/2024

VIOLET

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, VIOLET: I think the king is but a man as I am. The violet smells to him as it doth to me. The Violet, symbol of spring, hope, new beginnings was important culturally and also in food and medicine.

Seona Anderson 01/05/2024 Seona Anderson 01/05/2024

HAWTHORN

Shakespeare Species Hawthorn: Like a many of these lisping hawthorn buds that come like women in men’s apparel. Happy May Day! The Hawthorn is also know as the May Bush or Mayflower.

Seona Anderson 30/04/2024 Seona Anderson 30/04/2024

ALLIGATOR

Shakespeare Species of the Day, ALLIGATOR: And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, an alligator stuffed. Europeans encountered Alligators in the Americas and the word is said to be a corruption of the Spanish for ‘lizard’.

Seona Anderson 29/04/2024 Seona Anderson 29/04/2024

LARK

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LARK: down king, for nightowls shriek where mounting larks should sing. Larks have been celebrated for their sweet song by writers and musicians in many cultures.

Seona Anderson 28/04/2024 Seona Anderson 28/04/2024

DAISY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, DAISY: whose perfect white showed like an April daisy on the grass. The ubiquitous daisy is a favourite metaphor for Shakespeare and symbolises innocence, youth, freshness.

Seona Anderson 27/04/2024 Seona Anderson 27/04/2024

PRAWN

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PRAWN: telling us she had a good dish of prawn, whereby thou didst desire to eat. The original fine diner, Falstaff, enjoyed a good dish of Prawns.

Seona Anderson 26/04/2024 Seona Anderson 26/04/2024

TENCH

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, TENCH: I am stung like a tench. The Tench is a fish of fresh and brakish water which was widely caught & eaten in Shakespeare’s world.

Seona Anderson 26/04/2024 Seona Anderson 26/04/2024

OXLIP

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, OXLIPS: I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, where oxlips and the nodding violet grows. Oxlips, delicate and stately are a symbol of spring & closely related to the Primrose & Cowslip.

Seona Anderson 24/04/2024 Seona Anderson 24/04/2024

LIZARD

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LIZARD: lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing for a charm of powerful trouble. There are 3 native Lizard species in the UK including the very rare Sand Lizard.

Seona Anderson 23/04/2024 Seona Anderson 23/04/2024

AZURED HAREBELL

Shakespeare Species, AZURED HAREBELL: I’ll sweeten thy sad grave. Thou shalt not lack… the azured harebell like thy veins. Happy Birthday Shakespeare. The British Bluebell is in full bloom on Shakespeare’s Birthday.

Seona Anderson 22/04/2024 Seona Anderson 22/04/2024

CORAL

Shakespeare Species Quote the Day, CORAL: Coral is far more red than her lips’ red. There are 1000s of Coral species including the Red Coral of jewellery. The UK has 1 reef-forming Coral which has colonies up to 4000 years old in the cold waters of Scotland.

Seona Anderson 21/04/2024 Seona Anderson 21/04/2024

WEASEL

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WEASEL: I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel suck eggs. Weasel’s the smallest carnivore in the UK gets a bad press in Shakespeare.

Seona Anderson 20/04/2024 Seona Anderson 20/04/2024

BROOM

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, BROOM: and thy broom groves, whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, being lass-lorn. The vibrant yellow of broom is another sign that spring has arrived.

Seona Anderson 19/04/2024 Seona Anderson 19/04/2024

CROWN IMPERIAL

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CROWN IMPERIAL: bold oxlips and crown imperial; lilies of all kinds - O, these I lack to make you garlands of. This stunning flower is native from Turkey to the Himalaya & was a high status garden plant.