FOOTNOTES:
A Clote-leef he had under his hood
For swoot, and to keep his heed from hete."
Chaucer, Prologue of the Chanounes Yeman (25).
This Clote leaf is by many considered to be the Burdock leaf, but it was more probably the name of the Water-lily.
BURNET.
| Burgundy. | The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and green Clover. | |
| Henry V. act v, sc. 2 (48). | ||
The Burnet (Poterium sanguisorba) is a native plant of no great beauty or horticultural interest, but it was valued as a good salad plant, the leaves tasting of Cucumber, and Lord Bacon (contemporary with Shakespeare) seems to have been especially fond of it. He says ("Essay of Gardens"):
"Those flowers which perfume the air most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden upon and crushed, are three—that is, Burnet, Wild Thyme, and Water Mints; therefore you are to set whole alleys of them, to have the pleasure when you walk or tread." Drayton had the same affection for it—
