There with fantastic garlands did she make

Orchis mascula

In between re-practicing all my speeches and writing a novel (well, three novels... I've been at this every summer for three years now), I am currently engaged in reading A History of the Orchid by Merle A. Reinikka. This publication is something of a Godsend for me, as I have been searching for a legitimate, comprehensive, historical chronicle of human fascination with orchids for quite a while now and I am in heaven with this book.

Ever since I downloaded Darwin's The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids Are Fertilized by Insects onto my Kindle from the Open Library, I find myself compelled to seek out little-known researches and journals on the most engrossing of botanicals. The whole book is essentially very detailed orchid porn, and it has led me to scour the internet for--and in two cases, obtain--some of the orchids he studied. Thank you, Darwin, for everything.

Anyhow, six pages into the History, the author mentions Shakespeare and how he peppered references to all sorts of plants, weeds, and flowers throughout his plays. Entire gardens (I've been to two in NYC myself) have been dedicated to the plants that pop up in his works. Indeed, there are many, but only once did he throw an orchid into the lot.

Of course, it was in Hamlet, Act IV, Sc. VII, when Gertrude is setting the scene of Ophelia's death for Claudius and Laertes:

There is a willow grows aslant a brook
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream.
There with fantastic garlands did she come
Of crowflowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples,
That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
But our cold maids do “dead men’s fingers” call them.


The author of The Plant-Lore and Garden-Craft of Shakespeare agrees that the "long purples" and "dead men's fingers" are reference to the common purple Orchises (Orchis latifolia, O. morio, O. mascula, and O. maculata) found in English woods and meadows.

This green thumb with over 50 orchids to her name was ecstatic with these tidbits. That the only reference to orchids ever made was in Hamlet (my favorite!) just ices the cake for me.

Orchids, by the way, got their name from the Greek orchis, meaning testis, because most of the orchids the ancients knew about at the time had testiculate bulbs that resembled male genitalia. Based on the "Doctrine of Signatures," plants that approximated human anatomy in shape were believed to treat or cure ailments related to the corresponding body parts. So it follows that orchids were thought to assist with fertility. If a man consumed the plump, fresh orchid tuber, they would beget male children. If a woman ate the dried up roots, they would bear females.

Given all the talk of conception ("Conception is a blessing, but, as your daughter may conceive..." Act II, Sc. II) and "chaste treasure" earlier in the play, one could surmise that poor, scandalized Ophelia may have had certain adult activities on her mind while she was picking her flowers.

Just a bit of vegetation for thought. Next week, I think a new speech is in order. Stay tuned!