[134:1] "Ladies-smock.--A kind of water cresses, of whose virtue it partakes; and it is otherwise called Cuckoo-flower."--PHILLIPS, _World of Words_, 1696.
[134:2] Culverkeys is mentioned in Dennis' "Secrets of Angling" as a meadow flower: "pale Ganderglas, and azor Culverkayes." It is also mentioned by Aubrey, in his "Natural History of Wilts;" but the name is found in no other writer, and is now extinct. It is difficult to say what plant is meant; many have been suggested: the Columbine, the Meadow Orchis, the Bluebell, &c. I think it must be the Meadow Geranium, which is certainly "azor" almost beyond any other British plant. "Culver" is a dove or pigeon, and "keyes" or "kayes" are the seeds of a plant, and the seeds of the Geranium were all likened to the claws of birds, so that our British species is called G. columbinum.
Lark's heels is one of the many names of the Garden Delphinium, otherwise called Larkspur, Larksclaw, Larkstoes.
To whom the heavens in thy nativity Adjudged an Olive branch and Laurel crown As likely to be blest in peace and war.
Cometh Andronicus bound with Laurel boughs.
_Antony and Cleopatra_, act i, sc. 3 (99).
Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, Laurels.
_Troilus and Cressida_, act i, sc. 3 (107).
This is one of the plants which Shakespeare borrowed from the classical writers; it is not the Laurel of our day, which was not introduced till after his death,[136:1] but the Laurea Apollinis, the Laurea Delphica--
"The Laurel meed of mightie conquerors And poet's sage,"--SPENSER;
that is, the Bay. This is the tree mentioned by Gower--
"This Daphne into a Lorer tre Was turned, whiche is ever grene, In token, as yet it may be sene, That she shalle dwelle a maiden stille."
There can be little doubt that the Laurel of Chaucer also was the Bay, the--
"Fresh grene Laurer tree That gave so passing a delicious smelle According to the Eglantere ful welle."
He also spoke of it as the emblem of enduring freshness--
"Myn herte and al my lymes be as grene As Laurer, through the yeer is for to seene."
The Laurel in Lyte's "Herbal" (the Lauriel or Lourye) seems to be the Daphne Laureola. But unconsciously Chaucer and Shakespeare spoke with more botanical accuracy than we do, the Bay being a true Laurel, while the Laurel is a Cherry (_see_ BAY).