There are close to 200 plant references in Shakespeare’s plays, with the bard mentioning herbs, spcices, as well as the iconic roses that was such a plague to Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. With the massive amount of exploration and import of foreign goods that was exploding in Egland dudirng Shakespeare’s lifetime, many of the plants mentioned by the bard were being seen in england for the very first time.

Motivated to explore exactly how many Shakespeare did mention across 37 plays and hundreds of sonnets, our guest this week, Gerit Quealy is the author of Botanical Shakespeare, a very detailed compilation text featuring illustrated versions of the plants from Shakespeare’s plays and she joins us this week to explain some of the history of plants in England, which ones were native to England, and how the bard knew about some of the more exotic herbs and plants mentioned in his plays.