Seona Anderson 31/05/2024 Seona Anderson 31/05/2024

NETTLE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, NETTLE: yield stinging nettles to mine enemies. Nettles can be painful but they are also food for humans and other animals and provide a strong fiber which was highly valued.

Seona Anderson 28/05/2024 Seona Anderson 28/05/2024

ELDER

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, ELDER: Judas was hanged on an elder. Shakespeare quotes the English tradition that Judas killed himself on an Elder which gave the tree a negative association.

Seona Anderson 27/05/2024 Seona Anderson 27/05/2024

PHEASANT

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PHEASANT: I have no pheasant, cock nor hen. The Pheasant may have been introduced in the Norman period but became a popular game bird in the 19th Century.

Seona Anderson 26/05/2024 Seona Anderson 26/05/2024

FUMITORY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, FUMITORY: crowned with rank fumiter and farrow weeds. King Lear crowns himself with weeds rather than crops or high status flower as an indication of his mental state.

Seona Anderson 26/05/2024 Seona Anderson 26/05/2024

DOCKS

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, DOCKS: nothing teems but hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burr. The Dock is one of the most successful colonisers of unmanaged ground and hence a hated weed of Shakespeare’s world.

Seona Anderson 26/05/2024 Seona Anderson 26/05/2024

COLUMBINE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, COLUMBINES: There’s fennel for you, and columbines. Columbines were found wild but also valued as garden plants in Shakespearean England.

Seona Anderson 24/05/2024 Seona Anderson 24/05/2024

CROWFLOWERS

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CROW FLOWERS: fantastic garlands did she make of crowflowers. Crowflowers are probably Ragged Robin, once a familiar wild flower of wet meadows.

Seona Anderson 24/05/2024 Seona Anderson 24/05/2024

LONG PURPLES

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LONG PURPLES: fantastic garlands did she make of crowflowers, nettles, daisies and long purples. Long Purples are probably a form of Dactylorhiza Orchid and were associated with sexuality.

Seona Anderson 24/05/2024 Seona Anderson 24/05/2024

WASP

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, WASP: Why, what a wasp-stung and impatient fool art thou. The Wasp is not usually a welcome guest at social gatherings but the 7000 species of social & solitary wasps in the UK play an important ecological role.

Seona Anderson 20/05/2024 Seona Anderson 20/05/2024

PIGEON

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PIGEON: This fellow pecks up wit as a pigeon peas. Pigeons including Wood Pigeons were widespread & also important food for many.

Seona Anderson 19/05/2024 Seona Anderson 19/05/2024

ELM

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, ELM: You are an elm, my husband, I a vine. Vines supported by elms appears as an image in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Look out for the winged Samara fruits of elm in spring.

Seona Anderson 19/05/2024 Seona Anderson 19/05/2024

GREYHOUND

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, GREYHOUND: How goes your fallow greyhound sir? I heard said she was outrun on Cotsall.

Seona Anderson 19/05/2024 Seona Anderson 19/05/2024

PLANTAIN

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PLANTAIN: Your plantain leaf is excellent for that…Your broken shin. Plantain was and is an excellent herbal medicine for wounds and other ailments.

Seona Anderson 19/05/2024 Seona Anderson 19/05/2024

LEOPARD

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LEOPARD: RICHARD: Give me his gage. Lions makes leopards tame. MOWBRAY: Yea, but not change his spots.

Seona Anderson 15/05/2024 Seona Anderson 15/05/2024

QUAIL

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, QUAIL: Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough and on that loves quails. This summer visitor to the UK was an important food in Shakespeare’s world.

Seona Anderson 14/05/2024 Seona Anderson 14/05/2024

PARSLEY

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, PARSLEY: I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the garden for parsley. Parsley was both a herb and a medicine.

Seona Anderson 13/05/2024 Seona Anderson 13/05/2024

CAPER

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, CAPER: Andrew: I can cut a caper. Toby: And I can cut the mutton to ‘t. Caper is both a dance and the edible flower bud of the Caper bush.

Seona Anderson 12/05/2024 Seona Anderson 12/05/2024

NIGHTINGALE

Shakespeare Species, NIGHTINGALE: the nightingale, is she should sing by day… would be thought no better a musician than a wren. The Nightingale is celebrated for its night singing in Shakespeare & many cultural works.

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

LOACH

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, LOACH: And your chamber-lye breeds fleas like a loach. The Loach is a freshwater fish of British rivers.

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

MOUSE

Shakespeare Species Quote of the Day, MOUSE: I never killed a mouse, nor hurt a fly. Shakespeare uses mice as terms of endearment, insults and a well known species linked to human communities.