Joann Merritt's Essays

Wild “Withywinds” On The Prairie
March, 2000

In her publication Legends & Lore of Texas Wildflowers Elizabeth Silverthorne relates how two English authors made use of morning glories in their literary works.

According to Silverthorne the names woodbine and withywind were given to different plants at different times, and sometimes they were applied to morning glories. She further states that Shakespeare seems to have known that members of the morning glory family twine counter-clockwise and members of the honeysuckle family twine clockwise hence when they meet they tightly embrace. As evidence of this she quotes a line from A Midsummer Night’s Dream where Titania promises to wind Bottom in her arms as tightly as “doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle gently entwist.” Considering the morning glory’s vigorous growth habit their resulting meeting would probably be more of a bear hug than a gentle entwisting, but however stated it is a given that Titania and Bottom were all wound up in each other’s arms.

Thomas Hardy makes two mentions of withywinds. In Noble Dames he writes that someone was “one of those sweet-pea or withywind natures which requires a twig or stouter fibre than its own to hang upon and bloom” and again “You could twist him to your will like withywind, if only you had the mind” which is from The Return of the Native.

Shakespeare and Silverthorne have given me new information concerning morning glories and honeysuckle or as the British might say “concerning woodbines and withywinds,” so as this year’s growing season approaches I will definitely be looking for verification that these plants actually wind in opposite directions. I welcome comments from anyone knowledgeable about this matter.