Shakespeare Flowers and played an important role in the imagery throughout Shakespeare’s literary masterpieces. While some of the blooms are recognizable, others are not as familiar. This is because Shakespeare relied on the language of flowers—symbolic meanings attached to different flowers—to create elaborate metaphors. Below are some of the flowers mentioned in his works:

Common Name Latin Name Reference in Shakespeare Literature Language of Flowers ______Columbine Aquilegia vulgaris (P) “I am that flower…that columbine.” Resolve to win, anxiety – Love’s Labour’s Lost ______Wormwood Artemisia “Wormwood, wormwood.” – Absence absinthium (P) ______Daisies Bellis perennis (P) “When daises pied, and violets blue / Innocence And lady-smocks all silver white / And cukoo-buds of yellow hue / Do paint the meadows with delight...” – Love’s Labour’s Lost ______Calendula Calendula “Hark! Hark! the lark at heaven’s gate Joy, health, officinalis(A) sings,/ And Phoebus ‘gins arise… And remembrance winking Mary-buds begin / to open their golden eyes…” – ______Harebell, Campanula “…thou shalt not lack / The flower that’s like Humility, constancy, BlueBell rotundifolia (P) thy face, pale primrose, nor / The azured gratitude harebell, like thy veins…” – Cymbeline ______Carnations Dianthus barbatus, “…the fairest flowers o’ the season / Are Long-lasting, dignity, Dianthus caryophyllus our carnations, and streak’d gillyvors…” taste (A) – The Winter’s Tale ______Fennel Foeniculum “There’s fennel for you and columbine.” Flattery, faithlessness vulgare (A) – Hamlet ______Strawberry Fragaria × “Tell me but this / Have you not sometimes Righteousness, anannassa (P) seen a handkerchief / Spotted with love strawberries in your wife’s hand?” – ______Ivy Hedera (A) “If aught possess thee from me, it is dross / Eternal fidelity Usurping ivy, brier or idle moss.” – Comedy of Errors ______Iris Iris (P) “What say’st thou, my fair flower-de-luce?” Heraldic symbol, – royalty ______Sweet Peas Lathyrus odoratus (A) “Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas/ Abundance, promise Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and of things to come pease…” – ______Lavender Lavandula “Here’s flowers to you; / Hot lavender, mints, Devotion, luck, angustifolia (P) savory, marjoram…” – The Winter’s Tale ardent attachment ______Lily Lilium candidum (P) “To gild refined gold, to paint the lily / To Majesty throw perfume on a violet... Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.” – ______

Printing courtesy of

A = Annual B = Biennial P = Perennial Visit www.GBBG.org for many other valuable resources! Shakespeare Garden

Common Name Latin Name Reference in Shakespeare Literature Language of Flowers ______Mint Mentha ssp. (P) “Here’s flowers to you; / Hot lavender, mints, Cheerfulness, welcome, savory, marjoram…” – The Winter’s Tale warmth of feeling ______Daffodil (P) “…daffodils, / That come before the Self-love swallow dares, and take / the winds of March with beauty…” – The Winter’s Tale ______Sweet Majorum Origanum “…she was the sweet majoram of the Blushes majorana (A) salad, or rather the herb of grace.” – All’s Well That End’s Well ______Poppy Papaver somniferum, Not poppy, nor mandragora, / Nor all the Forgetfulness, Papaver rhoeas (A) drowsy syrups of the world, / Shall ever passing pleasure medicine thee that, sweet sleep / Which thou owdest yesterday.” – Othello ______Primrose, Oxlip Primula japonica, “…pale primroses / That die unmarried, ere I can’t live without you Primula elatior (P) they can behold / Bright Phoebus in his strength – a malady / Most incident to maids…” – The Winter’s Tale ______Crowflower, Ranunculus “And cuckoo-buds of yellow hue / Ingratitude Buttercups fascicularis (P) do paint he meadows with delight...” – Love’s Labour’s Lost ______Rose Rosa (R) “So sweet a kiss the golden sun gives not / Differs by color. Grace, To those fresh morning drops upon the modesty, love, rose.” – Love’s Labour’s Lost infidelity, enchantment ______Sweet Briar Rosa eglanteria “I know a bank where wild thyme blows, / Simplicity Rose (Rosa rubiginosa) (P) Where oxlips and nodding violet grows, / Quite over-canopied with luscious, woodbine / With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.” – A Midsummer Night’s Dream ______Rosemary Rosmarinus “There’s for you, that’s for Remembrance officinalis(A) remembrance; / Pray, love, remember…” – Hamlet ______Rue (P) “…there’s rue / for you; and here’s some Regret for me: we may call it / herb-grace o’ Sundays: O you must wear your rue / with a difference.” – Hamlet ______Moss Sagina subulata (P) “Under an oak, whose boughs were Maternal love, moss’d with age…” – charity ______Pansies cornuta (A) “…and there is . That’s for Happy thoughts, thoughts.” – Hamlet sweetness, boldness ______Violets Viola odorata (A) “The purple violets, and marigolds, / Virtue, affections Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave / modesty While summers days do last.” – Pericles ______

Printing courtesy of

A = Annual B = Biennial P = Perennial Visit www.GBBG.org for many other valuable resources!