“Ophelia.
There’s fennel for you and columbines.”[27]
This herb was greatly valued by the old apothecaries, and was known also to the ancients. There was an old belief that the fennel in flower predicted an early summer. Its chief use now is as a flavouring agent.
Several allusions are also made to ginger.
“Clown. I must have saffron to colour the warden pies; mace; dates—none, that’s out of my note; nutmegs, seven; a race or two of ginger, but that I beg.”[28]
Ginger was known and used by the Greeks and Romans as a spice, and was esteemed by physicians in England at the time of the Norman Conquest. Its hot, burning taste is due to a resinous principle contained in the root, and is still used in medicine.
The mandrake or mandragora is frequently mentioned in the plays. Thus says
“Iago.
Not poppy, nor mandragora,