Chartreuse

Chartreuse (pronounced shahr-trooz or shahr-troos or shar-trœz (French))

(1) As a color range, varying from a clear yellowish-green to a strong greenish-yellow.

(2) Of the color chartreuse used, inter-alia, to describe the color now used for tennis balls when people can’t agree whether they’re a shade of yellow or green (officially they are "optic yellow").

(3) A aromatic liqueur produced in a number of varieties (mainly one green, one yellow), distilled by the Carthusian monks at Grenoble, France (and formerly at Tarragona, Spain) (initial capital).

(4) A kind of enamelled pottery.

(5) In cooking, a dish of French origin in which vegetables (and sometimes meat) are wrapped tightly in a decorative layer of salad or vegetable leaves and cooked in a mould (historically dome-shaped many are now used).  The original recipe used by the monastic order of Carthusians was exclusively vegetarian.

(6) A female given name (the use of English origin).

1865–1870: From the French, named after La Grande Chartreuse, the Carthusian monastery near Grenoble, where the liqueur is distilled (the massif de la Chartreuse (Carthusianus in the Medieval Latin) a mountain group in the French Prealps).  Charterhouse, one of the great English public schools (upon which the framework of the British establishment continues to be built) was founded in London in 1611, the name a folk etymology alteration of chartreux which was chosen because the school’s location was the site of a Carthusian monastery.  Chartreuse is a noun & adjective; the noun plural is chartreuses.

The Order of Carthusians was founded in 1084 and, in separate institutions, includes both monks and nuns, the name derived from the massif de la Chartreuse, a mountain group the French Prealps; the order’s first buildings were erected close to Chartreux, a village in Dauphiné, near Grenoble.  The Ordo Cartusiensis (the Order of Carthusians and styled usually as “the Carthusians” (“the Certosini” the collective)) is a Latin enclosed religious order of the Roman Catholic Church.  A “Latin Religious Order” describes a religious institution which follows the Latin Rite (sometimes referred to as “Roman Rite” or “Roman Ritual”), the liturgical tradition used predominantly used in the Western Church and notable distinct from the practices of the Eastern Catholic Churches (the Orthodox).  The Carthusians retain the Carthusian Rite, a unique liturgy.  An “Enclosed Religious Order” is a community of men or women (never the twain shall meet) who have taken religious vows (typically perfect poverty, chastity & obedience (ultimately to the pope)) and live a contemplative or monastic life.  As the term “enclosed” implies, the members live in secluded from the outside world, usually in a monastery or convent although it’s now rare to find institutions where the seclusion from society is absolute.  A “Latin enclosed religious order” is thus a combination of these criteria, a Roman Catholic religious order adhering to the Latin Rite and following a contemplative or monastic lifestyle within an enclosed setting.  There are between orders variations in how the vows are discharged but the essence is that members dedicate themselves to prayer, contemplation, and a life of asceticism, this thought a contribution to the spiritual life of the Church and it can have practical manifestations such as publications on matters which historically have not exclusively been thematically religious.

Chartreuse VEP Green (500 ml).  The VEP (Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé (exceptionally prolonged aging) releases are available in both yellow & green and are aged in oak casks.

Sometimes, the output is less in abstractions and more in stuff which benefits many including liqueurs, the Benedictines making Benedictine and the Carthusians, Chartreuse.  In one form or another, the Certosini monks have been distilling the liqueur since 1737 (although some experts insist, on arcane technical grounds, that it should be considered an “alcoholic cordial”).  Both Green Chartreuse and Yellow Chartreuse are made using a recipe of herbs, plants, and botanicals, the mix said to be “secret” and only ever revealed to two living monks at any time (a protocol later adopted by both the Coca-Cola Company and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)).  The green Chartreuse is more intense, spicy and herbal and has a higher alcohol content than the yellow but both have a role, yellow more suited to a flambé while green is better to drink straight or in cocktails.  That said, because yellow is milder and sweeter, there are those who prefer it for all purposes, the honeyed sweetness the essence of the appeal.  There are also special mixes of (related often to aging) and in the past, others were available including a White Chartreuse.

Chartreuse ("optic yellow" according to the IFT) tennis balls were introduced because they worked better than white on color television but the players also expressed support for the change because they were easier to see when on or over a court's white lines: Model Jordan Carver (Ina-Maria Schnitzer (b 1986)) demonstrates the color contrast by bouncing (the tennis balls).

The use of chartreuse as a color name dates from 1884 and was drawn from the apple-green hue of the finest of the liqueurs.  Because the best known versions of the drink have been both a yellow and green hue, the color chartreuse is understood as a spectrum and often described as a “greenish yellow” or “yellowish green”, the color a helpful compromise in disputes about how modern tennis balls should be described.  It’s actually a relatively recent argument because until the 1970s tennis balls were almost always white (although when playing on many surfaces they quickly discolored) but the (inexplicable to some) popularity of the sport on television changed that because when in the 1960s & 1970s the industry transitioned to broadcasting in color, it was soon apparent colored balls were more visible than white (or whatever they became).  At scale, the switch began in the early 1970s although the All England Club (really not approving of anything which has happened since 1914) held out, Wimbledon not adopting optic yellow balls until 1986.

ColorHex’s spectrum chart of colors close to #ccff00.

According to the ITF (International Tennis Federation), the shade is “optic yellow” although the online color decoder ColorHexa redirects “optic yellow” requests to #ccff00 which is described as “fluorescent yellow” or “electric lime” and its spectrum chart displays a spread from yellow to green in accord with the range usually understood as “chartreuse”.

The chartreuse trend on the red carpet (left to right): Sofia Resing, Cannes Film Festival 2021; Ella Purnell, Critics Choice Awards 2022; Niecy Nash, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards 2023; Jessica Chastain, Emmy Awards 2024.

Although in recent years it’s been the “nude” (or “naked” depending on what the writer wishes to imply) dress which has caught the eye and focused the mine, since the COVID-19 pandemic, critics have noted chartreuse, a long neglected (almost ignored) color has been trending on red carpets of which there are now many.  It’s unlikely this has anything to do with COVID-19 at the biological level but the bright, vibrant look may initially have been part of the general reaction to the gloom of lockdowns and the look just caught on.  It won’t last but while it’s here, it should be enjoyed.

Lindsay Lohan leaving the Whisky Mist nightclub, London, June 2014, security staff in hi-viz chartreuse (left), chartreuse mixed & matched in hi-viz gear (centre) and country & western (C&W) singer-songwriter Priscilla Block (b 1995) on the red carpet, Country Music Association (CMA) awards ceremony 2023 (right).

On specialized garments chartreuse has of course become familiar as the symbol of the onrush of occupational health & safety (OHS) regulations although on safety jackets and such it tends to be called “Hi-Viz (high-visibility) Yellow” which, along with “Hi-Viz Orange” was one of the first shades used.  The yellow was found so effective its use spread to applications such as emergency vehicles, mainly because it was found to work in darkness so much better than the traditional reds and oranges.  Others quickly followed and some institutions have formal rules about who wears which color, the distinction tied variously to role, location, place in the hierarchy etc.  The rules seem most enforced in the allocation of the colors used for safety helmets.  C&W singer-songwriter Priscilla Block added a post-modern touch by eschewing a gown in any hue, appearing on the red carpet wearing actual hi-viz gear over a chartreuse outfit, the ensemble complemented by the a traffic cone in hi-viz orange.  When interviewed, she indicated the novel choice was something she thought in keeping with the demographic of her audience who were quite likely to work in jobs requiring hi-viz gear.

Actually, although the stylists and fashionistas probably imagined they had spotted a new red carpet trend, the appearance of all that chartreuse swishing around would have been greeted with a yawn by the real trendsetters, the electricians, cablers and construction staff who have for decades been rocking the look.

Greenhouse

Greenhouse (pronounced green-hous)

(1) A structure usually with a skeletal frame supporting panes of glass, Perspex or other translucent materials in which conditions such as temperature, humidity and irrigation are maintained within a desired range, used for cultivating delicate plants or growing plants out of season.

(2) In UK military slang, the clear material of an aircraft’s cockpit (now rare).

(3) In automotive design, the glass (and Perspex) between the beltline and roofline (also called the "glasshouse").

(4) In surgical medicine, a structure shielding an operating table and designed to protect from the transmission of bacteria.

(5) In climatology, as “greenhouse effect”, a description of the general global consequences of the increasing atmospheric concentrations of “greenhouse gases”, notably carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) et al).

(6) In climatology, a hot state in the global climate.

(7) To place (plants) in a greenhouse and (figuratively), to nurture something in some way to promote growth or development.

1655–1665: From the late Middle English greenhouse (house for growing greens), the reference to the vegetables grown (the produce of various colors but much of the foliage was green during the growing process).  The construct was green + house and the form green-house, while now less common, still runs in parallel.  Green was from the Middle English grene, from the Old English grēne, from the Proto-West Germanic grōnī, from the Proto-Germanic grōniz, from the primitive Indo-European ghreh (to grow).  The related forms include the North Frisian green, the West Frisian grien, the Dutch groen, the Low German grön, green & greun, the German grün, the Danish & Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, the Swedish grön, the Norwegian Bokmål grønn and the Icelandic grænn.  The noun use to refer to the color developed from the earlier references to vegetables and having “grened”.  House was from the Middle English hous & hus, from the Old English hūs (dwelling, shelter, house), from the Proto-West Germanic hūs, from the Proto-Germanic hūsą (and comparable with the Scots hoose, the West Frisian hûs, the Dutch huis, the German Haus, the German Low German Huus, the Danish hus, the Faroese hús, the Icelandic hús, the Norwegian Bokmål hus, the Norwegian Nynorsk hus & Swedish hus).  The Germanic forms may have been from the primitive Indo-European skews & kews-, from skewh & kewh- (to cover, to hide).  The word supplanted the non-native Middle English meson & measoun (house), from the Old French maison (house).  The now rare (and effectively probable extinct) plural housen was from the Middle English husen & housen.  In the Old English the nominative plural was hūs.  Greenhouse is a noun & verb and greenhousing & greenhoused are verbs; the noun plural is greenhouses.

Greenhouse: The Orchid House, Kew Gardens.

As structures used to create artificial, environments, optimized for the cultivation of plants, greenhouse has several synonyms.  The earlier noun conservatory dates from the 1560s in the sense of “a preservative”, a development of the adjectival use (having the quality of preserving), from the Latin conservator (keeper, preserver, defender), an agent noun from conservare.  The meaning “a place for preserving or carefully keeping anything” emerged in the 1610s and when used for the growing of flowers & vegetables, such structures came in the 1650s be called greenhouses.  In English, the formal use in musical education as “a school of music; a place for the performing arts” dates from 1805, from the Italian conservatorio or the French conservatoire (places of public instruction and training in some branch of science or the arts, especially music), from the Medieval Latin conservatorium.  The first places so described were Italian and the word came into use in France after the Revolution (1789); the Italian word was used in English after 1771.  Among gardeners and horticulturalists, by the mid-nineteenth century earthier terms such as “planthouse” and “hothouse” were in use, even in places of serious scientific study such as London’s Kew Gardens (the Royal Botanic Gardens) which, for practical reasons, adopted for various greenhouses pragmatic descriptions such as “Palm House”, “Orchid House” et al.

Lindsay Lohan with a pair of ratchet loppers, pruning cuttings for the potting shed, May 2015.

A twentieth century coining was the “poly house”, an allusion to the use of thick, translucent polythene which in the 1930s, supplied at low cost in rolls by the US petrochemical industry, was instant popular, enabling greenhouses to be built quickly and cheaply.  The related “poly tunnel” & “poly-tube” described the use of the same material to produce even smaller micro-environments with the fabrication of long, “roofs” (semi-circular with the appearance of a tube although without a base) which covered the rows of plants; depending on the crop, such structures could be only a few inches high.  There was also the “potting shed” which was different in that it wasn’t a place with any form of climate control and simply a place a gardener (professional or amateur) could work with their tools, pots etc falling conveniently to hand.  “Potting shed” however has been a “loaded” euphemism and metonym since the publication of DH Lawrence’s (1885–1930) Lady Chatterley's Lover (1928) which wasn’t generally available in the UK until 1961 when R v Penguin Books was decided.  That was a test case of recent legislative amendments in which a jury found the novel satisfied the new provision that the work was “in the interests of science, literature, art or learning, or of other objects of general concern”.  According to some (and they still exist in the Conservative Party), society has since been in decline.  In the novel, more was fertilized in the potting shed than the plants.

August 1912: By the time reports about global warming appeared in the popular press, understandings of the basics of human-induced climate change had been understood for almost a century.

Most reputable sources define the greenhouse effect (on Earth and other heavenly bodies) as something like: “The radiative effect of all infrared absorbing constituents in the atmosphere”.  The operation of the greenhouse effect is not unique to the Earth of the post-industrial revolution but what makes it historically unusual is (1) the rapidity of the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) and (2) that so much of the increase is due to human activity (mostly the burning of fossil fuels).  In the early nineteenth century, French scientists had published papers describing what would later come to be known as the greenhouse effect, deconstructing the consequences of differing compositions in the Earth’s atmosphere and it was a Swedish meteorologist who first applied the term “greenhouse”, an example of the use of a term the general population would find more accessible than the sometime arcane language of science.  The term “greenhouse seems first to have appeared in print in 1937 but for decades, perception of the phenomenon as a problem was restricted to a handful of specialists and even in the scientific community there were many who viewed it as something benign or even beneficial, there being an awareness a rising temperature would make more of the planet habitable and the increasing volume of CO₂ would encourage plant growth, thus benefiting agriculture.  At the time, climate science was in its infancy, satellites and the big computers needed to model the climate system were decades away and the data on which to develop theories simply didn’t exist.  Additionally, it wasn’t until well into the second half of the century those emissions began radically to increase, the assumptions long that any possible problems probably wouldn’t emerge for centuries.

A chilly looking Greta Thunberg (b 2003), during School Strike for Change, protesting against global warming outside the Swedish Parliament, November 2018.  On 3 January 2024, the world's most famous weather forecaster turned 21.

So “greenhouse effect” never really worked as a term successfully to convey the degree of seriousness the issue deserved.  Accordingly, academics, the activist communities and sympathetic journalists began in the late 1970s to use other words but “global warming” although accurate, really wasn’t much of an improvement because “warm” is a generally “positive” word, used to covey the idea of “kindness, friendliness or affection” and while many people probably thought their climate was already hot enough, more (especially those in the “global north”) would probably have welcomed generally warmer weather.  So that didn’t gain the necessary traction and by the early 1990s, “climate change” began to be used interchangeably with “global warming”, the old “greenhouse effect” by now abandoned.  The scientific rationale for this was that in the narrow technical sense, global warming describes only increased surface warming, while climate change describes the totality of changes to Earth's climate system.  However, until well into the twenty-first century, for most of the population in the First World, what in retrospect have come to be understood as manifestations of climate change, things were hardly obvious.  By the 2020s, the linguistic implications in messaging seemed finally understood and “climate crisis”, “climate emergency” and “climate catastrophe” became the preferred terms and while the “climate change deniers” seem now less numerous (at least some perhaps having perished from heat stroke or drowned in one of the “once in 500 year floods” which seem now frequent).  In the political discourse, "climate crisis" and "global heating" seem now the popular forms. 

The Automotive Greenhouse

1970 Series 2 Fiat 124 Coupé (left) and 2022 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE (right).

The Fiat and Chevrolet represent two approaches to the coupé greenhouse (styled also as the "glasshouse") and both attracted some comment from critics, the Fiat because it was judged around an inch (25 mm) too high to achieve aesthetic success and the Chevrolet because it was too low (the estimates of by how much varied).  The Italian car however was much admired and enjoyed strong demand for most of its life (1967-1975 and given what followed the end of production was probably premature), and at least some of the success was attributable to the comfortable cabin with its generous headspace and the greenhouse which provided outstanding visibility in all directions, am important aspect of what was coming to be understood as “passive safety” (as opposed to “active safety” elements such as seat-belts or crumple-zones).  The low roof-line on the Chevrolet was thought by some to give the car a “cartoonish” quality although it’s a subjective judgment whether that detracted from the look and certainly it lent the thing a low-slung, sporty appearance which was after all presumably what most appealed to the target market.  The practical drawback was the abbreviated greenhouse meant a dark cabin and some compromise in the ease of ingress & egress although descriptions suggesting the space was “claustrophobic” or “oppressive” seem hyperbolic.  As a retro take on the original Camaro (1967-1969), the fifth (2010-2015) & sixth (2016-2024) generation models were well executed although greenhouse and other details unsettled some.  Ms Thunberg approves of neither although, depending on how one deconstructs the numbers, it's debatable which contributes more to the climate crisis.

Standard and Spezial coachwork on the Mercedes-Benz 300d (W189, 1957-1962).  The "standard" four-door hardtop was available throughout the run while the four-door Cabriolet D was offered (off and on) between 1958-1962 and the Spezials (landaulets, high-roofs et al), most of which were for state or diplomatic use, were made on a separate assembly line in 1960-1961.  The standard greenhouse cars are to the left, those with the high roof-line to the right.

The 300d (W189, 1957-1962) was a revised version of the W186 (300, 300b & 300c; 1951-1957) which came to be referred to as the "Adenauer" because several were used as state cars by Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967; chancellor of the FRG (West Germany) 1949-1963).  Although the coachwork never exactly embraced the lines of mid-century modernism, the integration of the lines of the 1950s with the pre-war motifs appealed to the target market (commerce, diplomacy and the old & rich) and on the platform the factory built various Spezials including long wheelbase "pullmans", landaulets, high-roof limousines and four-door cabriolets (Cabriolet D in the Daimler-Benz system).  The high roofline appeared sometimes on both the closed & open cars and even then, years before the assassination of John Kennedy (JFK, 1917–1963; US president 1961-1963), the greenhouse sometimes featured “bullet-proof” glass.  As well as Chancellor Adenauer, the 300d is remembered also as the Popemobile (although not then labelled as such) of John XXIII (1881-1963; pope 1958-1963).

Two from the Daimler-Benz Spezial line: The 1965 Papal Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100) Landaulet (left) built for Pope Paul VI (1897-1978; pope 1963-1978) (left) and the one-off short wheelbase (SWB) 600 Landaulet (right) built for racing driver Graf von Berckheim (Count Graf Philipp-Constantin Eduard Siegmund Clemens Tassilo Tobias von Berckheim, 1924-1984).

The Papal 600 used the higher roof-line which was a feature of some of the Spezial Pullmans & Pullman Landaulets.  The attractions of the high-roof coachwork was (1) greater headroom which afforded more convenient ingress & egress (a practical matter given the cars were sometime parade vehicles used by royalty and military dictators, both classes given to wearing crowns or big hats) and (2) the extended greenhouse made it easier for crowds to see the occupants.  Count von Berckheim's car used the standard roof-line and was the only SWB Landaulet, the other 59 all built on the LWB Pullman platform.

Garland

Garland (pronounced gahr-luhnd)

(1) A wreath or festoon of flowers, leaves, or other material, worn for ornament or as an honor or hung on something as a decoration; an accolade or mark of honor.

(2) To crown, adorn or deck with such an object.

(3) A representation of such a wreath or festoon.

(4) In publishing, a collection of short literary pieces, as poems and ballads; a literary miscellany.

(5) In nautical use, a band, collar, or grommet or ring of rope lashed to a spar for convenience in handling.

(6) In admiralty jargon, a netted bag used by sailors to store provisions.

(7) In mining, a metal gutter installed around the inside of a mineshaft, to catch water running down inside the shaft and funnel it into a drainpipe.

1275–1325: From the Middle English gerlande, gerelande, garlande & garland (used to mean both "wreath of flowers" & "crown of gold or silver), from the Old French garlande, garlaunde, gerlande & guerlande (from which Modern French gained guirlande) from the Frankish wierlōn & wieralōn, a frequentative form of the Frankish wierōn (to adorn, bedeck), from wiera (a gold thread), akin to the Old High German wieren (to adorn) & wiara (gold thread).  The Frankish forms alluded to the notion of "an ornament of refined gold" (most likely "of twisted gold wire"), from the Proto-Germanic wira- & wera-, a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root wei- (to turn, twist).  Variations of garland exist in many Romanic languages including the Old Spanish guarlanda, the French guirlande, the Italian ghirlanda and the Portuguese grinalda.  The verb in the sense of "to make a garland" or "to crown with a garland" emerged in the late sixteenth century.  Garland & garlanding are nouns & verbs, garlanded is a verb & adjective, garlander is a noun and garlandless is an adjective; the noun plural is garlands.

Commitment issues: Hamlet and Ophelia by Agnes Pringle (1853-1934)

Flowers appealed to William Shakespeare (1564–1616) as a literary device because their myriad of attributes, color, shape, fragrance, thorns, fragility et al, offered so many metaphors for the human condition.  In the plays, over two-hundred species of plants are mentioned and thirty-odd scenes are set in gardens or orchids.  In Hamlet (Act IV, scene 5), there’s a harvest in Ophelia’s garland speech to her brother Laertes:

There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.  And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.  There's fennel for you, and columbines. There's rue for you, and here's some for me; we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays.  O, you must wear your rue with a difference.  There's a daisy.  I would give you some violets, but they withered all when my father died. (Act IV, scene 5)

There were fantastic garlands did she come. Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples, that liberal shepherds give a grosser name, but our cold maids do dead men’s fingers call them. (Act IV, Scene 7)

There were fantastic garlands did she come, Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies and long purples. (Act IV, Scene 7)

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus or Rosmarinus officinalis (pre 2017)

Since Antiquity, rosemary has been associated with remembrance, Athenian students at study wore garlands of rosemary as a memory improvement tool.  The name is derived from the Latin rosmarinus (dew of the sea), a reference to its blue petals and habitat atop Mediterranean cliffs.  In Shakespeare's day, rosemary was in both the wedding bouquets carried by bridesmaids and the wreaths laid at funeral wreaths.  A contemporary poet, Robert Herrick (1591-1674) , wrote in a verse “Grow it for two ends, it matters not at all, Be it for my bridall or buriall."  In English folklore, a man who couldn't smell the fragrant shrub was thought incapable of loving a woman though in the same tradition, if rosemary was planted in front of a cottage, it was held to mean the woman was the head of the household.  That was one folk belief said to have caused the up-rooting of not a few plants.  Helpfully, it was said also to repel plague and witches while sleeping with a sprig beneath the pillow prevented nightmares.  But for Ophelia, distraught at her father's death and Hamlet's odd behavior, the mention of rosemary indicates to her brother and the Elizabethan audience her brittle feelings and lack of confidence: "Pray you, love, remember."

Daisy (Bellis perennis, bruisewort or woundwort)

The Daisy’s botanical name is friom the Latin bellis (pretty), the English from the Anglo Saxon daeges eage (day’s eye); poetically, that was because the petals open during the day and close at night.  Long associated with childhood and innocence, in Scotland and the north of England it’s known also as Bairnwort (bairn a dialectical word for child).  In Roman mythology, the daisy was the virginal nymph Belides who transformed herself into the flower to escape the sexual advances of the orchard god Vertumnus.  The flower was symbolic of the Greco-Roman goddesses Aphrodite and Venus as well as Freya, the Norse goddess of beauty and love for whom Friday is named. The legend is that daisies picked between noon and one can be dried and carried as a good luck charm and in English fields, to this day some children still make daisy chains although those who do grow up to become emos.  Unlike the other plants in Ophelia's garland, the daisy seems to possess only good connotations but Shakespeare has Ophelia announce the daisy but not hand it out, the implication being there’s no innocence or purity at court.

Pansy (Viola × wittrockiana)

The word pansy is from the French pensée (for thoughts), the botanical name tricolor a referece to the three main shades, white, purple and yellow, the heart shaped petals thought to help heal a broken heart, so it was known also as heartease.  Pansies, as Ophelia notes, are for thoughts and it was also used medicinally, a curative for cramps, hysteria and diarrhea in children.  In A Midsummer Night's Dream, the fairy King Oberon mixes a potion with the flower's juice: if dropped on the eyelids of a sleeper, it was said they would awake to fall in love with whatever they first see, hence the unfortunate Titania, Oberon's wife, falling in love with a donkey.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Apparently, fennel is among the vegetables children most dislike.  Pre-dating Shakespeare, Fennel was long regarded as an emblem of false flattery, noted famously in Robert Greene’s (1558-1592) Quip for an Upstart Courtier (1592), the link apparently being the seeds popularity as an appetite suppressant to aid fasting pilgrims, thus becoming symbolic of things that appear to give sustenance but have none.  Empty flattery to hunger.  Shakespeare used fennel often, Falstaff mentioning it in Henry IV, Part 2 and for Ophelia, it’s an allusion to her sterile love affair with Hamlet.

Columbine (Aquilegia or granny's bonnet)

The Columbine, known also as granny’s bonnet, was a wild flower but its beauty made it a popular Elizabethan garden flower, the botanical name from the Latin aquila (eagle) because the petals were thought to resemble an eagle’s talons.  In a more gentle avian vein, the English is derived from the Latin columba (dove), a reference to its nectaries being vaguely reminiscent of the heads of doves.  To Shakespeare, the columbine had a number of symbolic associations.  The poet George Chapman (1559-1634) suggested it was emblematic of ingratitude and William Browne (1590–1645) declared it stood only for forsaken and neglected love for in England it also symbolized cuckoldom as the nectaries did look like horns.  More helpfully, as the "thankless flower", the seeds, if taken with wine, were said to induce labor.

Rue (Ruta graveolens or herb-of-grace)

By Shakespeare’s time, rue had been for centuries a symbol of sorrow and repentance and it’s a long, fabled history. Rue was the plant that King Mithridates VI of Pontus (135-16 BC) imbibed to protect himself against poisoning and the Greek physician Hippocrates (circa 460-circa 370 BC) recommended it to relieve rheumatic pains, heart palpitations and menopausal symptoms.  The herb's name is derived from the Greek ruta (repentance) and the Athenians used it while dining with foreigners to ward off evil demons, spells and spirits whereas in Ancient Rome it was said to improve eyesight.  Its other names, Herb o' Grace or Herb o' Sundays, refers to the sorrow and resulting grace one feels after true repentance and the suit of clubs in a deck of cards was modeled after rue's fleshy, oblong leaves.  It remains a call to regret and repent past evil deeds; due to its strong aromatic smell and bitter taste, the plant has long been symbolic of sorrow, regret and repentance, hence the expression “you’ll rue the day”.  In Elizabethan England (1558-1603), it was carried around as protection against plague and witchcraft and even as an insect repellent. When Ophelia hands it to Queen Gertrude in Hamlet, it is a subtle rebuke of her faithlessness.  In moderation, rue was used to hasten labor but in larger doses, was known to be an abortifacient, hence the speculation that when Ophelia utters the lines "there's rue for you, and here's some for me", it’s a confession of unwanted pregnancy and another reason for ending her life.

Violet (Viola)

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) in his essay Of Gardens (1625) wrote the violet was “that which above all others yields the sweetest smell” and they’ve always been prized too for their beauty.  Despite this, there’s the association with melancholy and early death, expressed in Hamlet when Ophelia laments she has no Violets to give to the court because “they withered when my father died” and it’s Laertes’ wish that violets “may spring” from Ophelia’s grave.  There’s a duality of meaning in Ophelia’s statement; she’s lamenting not only the death of her father the lack of faithfulness and fidelity in the court.

Lindsay Lohan in sheer black gown with embroidered garlands, Francesco Scognamiglio's (b 1975) spring 2015 collection, Naples, June 2015.

Fastigiate

Fastigiate (pronounced fa-stij-ee-it or fa-stij-yet)

(1) In zoology, joined together in a tapering adhering group.

(2) In botany, erect and parallel (as in branches) or having such branches; having erect branches, often appearing to form a single column with the stem.

(3) In palynology (the study of pollen grains and other spores, especially those found in archaeological or geological deposits), characterized by a fastigium, a cavity separating the intexine from the sexine near the endoaperture of a colporate pollen grain.

(4) A structure or design rising or tapering to a point (now rare and restricted mostly to technical use in various forms of architecture, including at the micro level).

1655–1665: From the from Medieval Latin fastīgātus (high, lofty; peaked), the construct being the Classical Latin fastīgi(um) (height, highest point, peak) + -ate.  The suffix -ate was a word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as estate, primate & senate).  Those that came to English via French often began with -at, but an -e was added in the fifteenth century or later to indicate the long vowel.  It can also mark adjectives formed from Latin perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as desolate, moderate & separate).  Again, often they were adopted in Middle English with an –at suffix, the -e appended after circa 1400; a doublet of –ee.  Fastigiate is a noun & adjective, fastigiation is a noun and fastigiated is an adjective; the noun plural is fastigiates.

Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, London.

In botany, fastigiated shrubs or trees are those with an upright, columnar growth habit, usually with branches growing almost parallel to the main stem, a shape which makes them popular for use in smaller areas with limited lateral space, such as streetscapes, car-parks, and public recreation areas.  The Royal Arsenal sits on the south bank of the River Thames in Woolwich in south-east London and beginning in the seventeenth century, it served as the headquarters of the Office of Ordnance and was until the 1960s a factory site where munitions were manufactured.  For much of that time it was also a research & development (R&D) centre for armor, ammunition & armaments (until in the twentieth century the explosions became too large and the civilian population began to encroach on the surrounding area).  The Ministry of Defence finally moved the last of its operations to other places in 1994 and now the site is in the throes of being re-developed for housing and community use.  Because of the location conveniently close to the city of London, Royal Arsenal has become a desirable residential area and as part of the plan for the open space, 24 English oak trees (Quercus robur (Fastigiata)) were planted in the public square, each up to 30 feet (9 m) in height.  The slender fastigiate form of oak selected is a popular variety among landscape architects who choose it because it provides so much foliage with a very small footprint and it’s ideal for locations where the desire is to retain a high proportion of the available sunlight.  The architects also note that being a former military site, the characteristic upright aspect of the Quercus robur recalls soldiers on parade.

Foliage of the liriodendron tulipifera Fastigiata (the common names including Upright Tulip Tree, Tulip Poplar & Whitewood) (left) and Lindsay Lohan in a floral maxi dress, London, 2016 (right).  Flower arrangers like fastigiated (upright) blooms because they can be interlaced into constructions to produce a three dimensional effect without the need for any underlying framework.  Clothing designers use fastigiates less than they do the big, open blooms like roses or carnations because when used in isolation, it’s easier with the latter to produce a more dramatic effect.  Lindsay Lohan has often worn floral fabrics but seldom were they fastigiates, the maxi dress in which she was photographed in London in 2016 a rare showing.  Upon publication however, most comment was about the fake tan and the fabric was neglected.

The cable-stayed Uddevalla Bridge crossing Sunninge sound near Uddevalla, Bohuslän, Sweden (left).  Pylons are inherently fastigitated structures and the two which support the roadway in a semi-fan arrangement are each 489 feet (149 m) high.  The Stonehenge-like structure in Windsor, Brisbane, Australia (right) is a part of the freeway architecture, the uprights essentially decorative but are said to play a part in sound reduction.

GM-X Stiletto (1964, left), GM Runabout (1964, centre) and Pontiac Grand Am (1973, right).  The Grand Am pictured is a factory one-off which was fitted with the 455 cubic inch (7.5 litre) Super Duty (SD) Pontiac V8.  The prototype used the original 310 horsepower version of the 455 SD which was declared unlawful by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because the manufacturer blatantly cheated during the certification process.  Consequently, during its two seasons of availability (1973-1974), the 455 SD offered in Pontiac’s Firebird and Trans Am was rated at a compliant 290 hp with plans to offer it in the Grand Am and GTO cancelled, the two prototypes scrapped.

Historically, fastigiated was used to describe a structure or design rising or tapering to a point.  It still occasionally appears in the context of architecture but now it seems a fixture only in the technical journals of those discussing the very big (cosmology) or the very small (anything microscopic or smaller still).  The sharp-central point was a feature of a number of automobiles before governments started passing safety laws in the post-war years but General Motors (GM) which had during the 1950s built many bizarre (some frankly absurd) “show cars” with a prominent point couldn’t resist the motif and at the New York World's Fair in 1964 displayed the Runabout and the GM-X Stiletto.  The Runabout was genuinely thoughtful, a 3-wheeled “city car” with a front wheel which could turn 180^o, enabling a tight turning circle and an ease of parking which was astonishing by the standards of the era.  The tail-end contained two detachable shopping trolleys with wheels which folded-away when they were stored as an integral part of the rear compartment; remarkably, the little machine had space for two adults and three children.  Reflecting the spirit of the age, GM’s promotional material noted it was an ideal design for women shopping at the still quite novel supermarkets but that men could use it too because easily it would accommodate a set of golf clubs.  The fastigiated nose made a final appearance (although they’re seen still on racing cars) on the 1973 Pontiac Grand Am but it was lawful only because it was made from a closed-cell urethane foam, bonded to a steel frame, a clever (if for years troublesome to manufacture) design introduced on the 1968 GTO and called “Endura”.  The attraction of Endura was that at the time it convinced the regulators it was harmless to others, thus the survival of the sharp point for a few more years.