folks would lye.

_As You Like It_, act v, sc. 3 (23).

The Rye of Shakespeare's time was identical with our own (_Secale
cereale_). It is not a British plant, and its native country is not
exactly known; but it seems probable that both the plant and the name
came from the region of the Caucasus.

As a food-plant Rye was not in good repute in Shakespeare's time. Gerard
said of it, "It is harder to digest than Wheat, yet to rusticke bodies
that can well digest it, it yields good nourishment." But "recent
investigations by Professor Wanklyn and Mr. Cooper appear to give the
first place to Rye as the most nutritious of all our cereals. Rye
contains more gluten, and is pronounced by them one-third richer than
Wheat. Rye, moreover, is capable of thriving in almost any
soil."--_Gardener's Chronicle_, 1877.

SAFFRON.

(1) _Ceres._

Who (_i.e._, Iris), with thy Saffron wings upon my flowers,
Diffusest honeydrops, refreshing showers.

_Tempest_, act iv, sc. 1 (78).

(2) _Antipholus of Ephesus._

Did this companion with the Saffron face
Revel and feast it at my house to day?

_Comedy of Errors_, act iv, sc. 4 (64).

(3) _Clown._

I must have Saffron to colour the Warden pies.

_Winter's Tale_, act iv, sc. 3 (48).

(4) _Lafeu._

No, no, no, your son was misled with a snipt-taffeta fellow
there, whose villanous Saffron would have made all the
unbaked and doughy youth of a nation in his colour.

_All's Well that Ends Well_, act iv, sc. 5 (1).

Saffron (from its Arabic name, _al zahafaran_) was not, in Shakespeare's
time, limited to the drug or to the Saffron-bearing Crocus (_C.
sativus_), but it was the general name for all the Croci, and was even
extended to the Colchicums, which were called Meadow Saffrons.[268:1] We
have no Crocus really a native of Britain, but a few species (C. vernus,
C. nudiflorus, C. aureus, and C. biflorus) have been so naturalized in
certain parts as to be admitted, though very doubtfully, into the
British flora; but the Saffron Crocus can in no way be considered a
native, and the history of its introduction into England is very
obscure. It is mentioned several times in the Anglo-Saxon Leech Books:
"When he bathes, let him smear himself with oil; mingle it with
Saffron."--_