The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Part 76

There is no certain record how long the Plane has been introduced into England; it is certainly not a native tree, nor even an European tree, but came from the East, and was largely planted and much admired both by the Greeks and Romans. We know from Pliny that it was growing in France in his day on the part opposite Britain, and the name occurs in the old vocabularies. But from Turner's evidence in 1548 it must have been a very scarce tree in the sixteenth century. He says: "I never saw any Plaine tree in Englande, saving once in Northumberlande besyde Morpeth, and an other at Barnwell Abbey besyde Cambryge." And more than a hundred years later Evelyn records a special visit to Lee to inspect one as a great curiosity. The Plane is not only a very handsome tree, and a fast grower, but from the fact that it yearly sheds its bark it has become one of the most useful trees for growing in towns. The wood is of very little value. To the emblem writers the Plane was an example of something good to the eye, but of no real use. Camerarius so moralizes it (Pl. xix.), and, quoting Virgil's "steriles platanos," he says of it, "umbram non fructum plata.n.u.s dat."

PLANTAIN.

(1) _Costard._

O sir, Plantain, a plain Plantain! no l'envoy, no l'envoy; no salve, sir, but a Plantain.

_Moth._

By saying that a costard was broken in a s.h.i.+n.

Then call'd you for the l'envoy.

_Costard._

True! and I for a Plantain.

_Loves Labour's Lost_, act iii, sc. 1 (76).

(2) _Romeo._

Your Plantain leaf is excellent for that.

_Benvolio._

For what, I pray thee?

_Romeo._

For your broken s.h.i.+n.

_Romeo and Juliet_, act i, sc. 2 (52).

(3) _Troilus._

As true as steel, as Plantage to the moon.

_Troilus and Cressida_, act iii, sc. 2 (184).

(4) _Palamon._

These poore slight sores Neede not a Plantin.

_Two n.o.ble Kinsmen_, act i, sc. 2 (65).

The most common old names for the Plantain were Waybroad (corrupted to Weybread, Wayborn, and Wayforn) and Ribwort. It was also called Lamb's-tongue and Kemps, while the flower spike with the stalk was called c.o.c.ks and c.o.c.kfighters (still so called by children).[214:1] The old name of Ribwort was derived from the ribbed leaves, while Waybroad marked its universal appearance, scattered by all roadsides and pathways, and literally bred by the wayside. It has a similar name in German, Wegetritt, that is Waytread; and on this account the Swedes name the plant Wagbredblad, and the Indians of North America Whiteman's Foot, for it springs up near every new settlement, having sprung up after the English settlers, not only in America, but also in Australia and New Zealand--

"Whereso'er they move, before them Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo, Swarms the bee, the honey-maker: Wheresoe'er they tread, beneath them Springs a flower unknown among us, Springs the 'White man's foot' in blossom."

LONGFELLOW'S _Hiawatha_.

And "so it is a mistake to say that Plantain is derived from the likeness of the plant to the sole of the foot, as in Richardson's Dictionary. Rather say, because the herb grows under the sole of the foot."--JOHNSTON. How, or when, or why the plant lost its old English names to take the Latin name of Plantain, it is hard to say. It occurs in a vocabulary of the names of plants of the middle of the thirteenth century--"Plantago, Planteine, Weibrode," and apparently came to us from the French, "Cy est a.s.sets de Planteyne, Weybrede."--WALTER DE BIBLESWORTH (13th cent.) But with the exception of Chaucer[215:1] I believe Shakespeare is almost the only early writer that uses the name, though it is very certain that he did not invent it; but "Plantage" (No 3), which is doubtless the same plant, is peculiar to him.[215:2]

It was as a medical herb that our forefathers chiefly valued the Plantain, and for medical purposes its reputation was of the very highest. In a book of recipes (Lacnunga) of the eleventh century, by aelfric, is an address to the Waybroad, which is worth extracting at length--

"And thou, Waybroad!

Mother of worts, Open from eastward, Mighty within; Over thee carts creaked, Over thee Queens rode, Over thee brides bridalled, Over thee bulls breathed, All these thou withstood'st Venom and vile things And all the loathly ones That through the land rove."

c.o.c.kAYNE'S _Translation_.

In another earlier recipe book the Waybroad is prescribed for twenty-two diseases, one after another; and in another of the same date we are taught how to apply it: "If a man ache in half his head . . .

delve up Waybroad without iron ere the rising of the sun, bind the roots about the head with Crosswort by a red fillet, soon he will be well."

But the Plantain did not long sustain its high reputation, which even in Shakespeare's time had become much diminished. "I find," says Gerard, "in ancient writers many good-morrowes, which I think not meet to bring into your memorie againe; as that three roots will cure one griefe, four another disease, six hanged about the neck are good for another maladie, &c., all which are but ridiculous toys." Yet the bruised leaves still have some reputation as a styptic and healing plaster among country herbalists, and perhaps the alleged virtues are not altogether fanciful.

As a garden plant the Plantain can only be regarded as a weed and nuisance, especially on lawns, where it is very difficult to destroy them. Yet there are some curious varieties which may claim a corner where botanical curiosities are grown. The Plantain seems to have a peculiar tendency to run into abnormal forms, many of which will be found described and figured in Dr. Masters' "Vegetable Teratology," and among these forms are two which are exactly like a double green Rose, and have been cultivated as the Rose Plantain for many years. They were grown by Gerard, who speaks of "the beauty which is in the plant," and compared it to "a fine double Rose of a h.o.a.ry or rusty greene colour."

Parkinson also grew it and valued it highly.

FOOTNOTES:

[214:1] Of these names Plantain properly belongs to Plantago major; Lamb's-tongue to P. media; and Kemps, c.o.c.ks, and Ribwort to P.

lanceolata.

[215:1]

"His forehead dropped as a stillatorie Were ful of Plantayn and peritorie."

_Prologue of the Chanoune's Yeman._

[215:2] Nares, and Schmidt from him, consider Plantage = anything planted.

PLUMS, WITH DAMSONS AND PRUNES.

(1) _Constance._

Give grandam kingdom, and it grandam will Give it a Plum, a Cherry, and a Fig.