LADY-SMOCKS

13th April 2024

QUOTATION

When daisies pied and violets blue

And lady-smocks all silver white,

and cuckoo buds of yellow hue,

do paint the meadows with delight.

SPRING: Loves Labours Lost, Act 5, Scene 2

LADY-SMOCKS (or CUCKOOFLOWER: Cardamine pratensis)

Shakespeare celebrates the beautiful Cuckooflower or Lady-smocks which appears in grasslands in the spring. This flower is also a host plant for the Orange-tip Butterfly. John Gerard (1597) says that it is called ‘Cuckooflower’ in English but that it has local variants, being known as ‘Canterbury Bells’ in Norfolk, and in Gerard’s home county of Cheshire as ‘Lady-smocks’.

Lady-smocks or Cuckooflowers flowers mainly in April and May, ‘when the Cuckoo begins to sing her pleasant notes without stammering’ (Gerard, 1597). They are plants of the Mustard Family (Brassicaceae) and the flowers have four petals. They were historically used as an edible spring green and have high levels of Vitamin C. Cuckooflowers are still widespread and are able to resist some herbicides which allows it to flourish even in more managed habitats.

More Information

BSBI Plant Atlas 2020: Cardamine pratensis

Butterfly Conservation: Orange-tip

Eat Weeds: Lady’s-smock/Cuckoo Flower

Folger Shakespeare: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Gerard, J. 1597 The Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes (1636 edition accessed via Archive.org)

The Wildflower Society: Plant of the Month

Wildlife Trusts: Cuckooflower