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BACON'S ESSAYS
periwinkle, the white, the purple, and the blue; germander;[1] flags; orange-trees; lemon trees; and myrtles, if they be stoved;[2] and sweet marjoram, warm set. There followeth, for the latter part of January and February, the mezereon-tree[3] which then blossoms; crocus vernus, both the yellow and the grey; primroses; anemones; the early tulippa; hyacynthus orientalis;[4] chamaïris;[5] fritellaria.[6] For March, there come violets, specially the single blue, which are the earliest; the yellow daffodil; the daisy; the almond-tree in blossom; the peach-tree in blossom; the cornelian-tree[7] in blossom; sweet-briar. In April follow, the double white violet; the wall-flower; the stock-gilliflower;[8] the
- ↑ Germander. A plant of the genus Teucrium, as Teucrium Canadense, American germander, or wood sage. Bacon probably means the Teucrium Scorodonia, or wood germander, which was cultivated in old English gardens. Its blossoms are yellowish-white, in terminal racemes.
- ↑ Stove. To keep warm in a house or room by artificial heat; as, to 'stove' orange trees.
- ↑ Mezereon-tree. The Mezereum is a species of small erect or trailing shrubs of the order Thymeleaceae. The best known representative of the family in cultivation is Daphne Mezereum, a small shrub with sweet white flowers that bloom in December in greenhouses.
- ↑ Hyacinthus orientalis. The common hyacinth, which came originally from the Levant.
- ↑ Chamaïris. There are but two irises native to England, and one of them is an aquatic plant. The other one, Iris Foetidissima, may be what is called here chamaïris; it is a blue iris. Possibly chamairïs is Iris Reticulata, one of the earliest irises cultivated in England. But the Elizabethans cultivated many varieties of iris.
- ↑ Fritellaria. A genus of liliaceous plants, the best known species of which are the Crown Imperial (Fritellaria Imperialis), and the Common Fritellary or Snakeshead (Fritellaria Meleagris), England. The Crown Imperial is a native of Persia, and was introduced into the royal garden at Vienna about 1576. It is said to have arrived in England shortly afterwards. It was therefore a new flower to both Bacon and Shakspere, and they could only have seen it in some choice garden.
- ↑ Cornelian-tree. The cornel-tree, or cornelian cherry.
- ↑ Stock-gilliflower. This is the White Stock (Matthiola Incana).
