Flower language - meanings of flowers
- secret messages - history and folklore of flowers
'My love is like a red, red rose, that's newly sprung in
June...'
So wrote the talented Scottish baird, Robbie Burns, and we all recognise
the red rose as the ultimate flower symbol of love.
A red rose is the traditional romantic gift given to your love on Valentine's
Day. Different rose colours can send other messages.
For hundreds of years flowers have held hidden meanings, derived from
mythology, folklore, religious and historical symbolism. The floral bouquet
you send or receive brings a special coded message, depending on the
flowers you choose.
What
does a rose mean?
Sweet flowers alone can say what passion fears revealing' Thomas
Hood
The study of the meaning of flowers is an actual science
known as floriography, and it reveals an extra underlying meaning
to sending or receiving flowers
- subtle and secret messages can be passed through the different blooms.
During the 18th century sending flower messages based
on a Turkish secret language of flowers became popular.
This was known as sending a 'Persian
Selam' - a coded bouquet to reveal your feelings of love or attraction.
The Victorians became very knowledgable in flower language and chose
their bouquets carefully. Flowers gave them a secret language that
enabled them to communicate feelings that the propriety
of the times would not
allow, there were strict restraints on courtship and any displays of
emotion.
So next Valentine's day, birthday, anniversary, Mother's
day or any other occasion you plan to send flowers make
sure you don't send the wrong
message in your flowers. Even the way you hand over the bouquet sends
a message too - flowers held in your right hand mean 'yes', whereas
flowers held in the left hand mean 'no'. |
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Anemone - dying love - derived from
the Greek for 'windflower', mythology relates the anemone sprung
from the tears of Aphrodite as she mourned the death of her
love, Adonis. In folklore the anemone is believed to bring
luck and protection against evil. The flower was said to foretell
rain by closing its petals, and fairies were believed to sleep
beneath the petals of the wood anemone during the night after
they closed at sunset.
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Bluebell - constancy
and everlasting love - believed to call the fairies when
rung, and thought to be unlucky to walk through a mass of bluebells,
because it was full of spells. It is also considered
an unlucky flower to pick or bring into the house. The Latin
name for this flower is Endymion who was the lover of the moon
Goddess, Selene. The goddess put Endymion into an eternal sleep,
so she alone could enjoy his beauty. Bluebells were said by herbalists
to help prevent nightmares, and used as a remedy against leprosy,
spider-bites and tuberculosis, but the bluebell is poisonous.
'light beating up from so many glassy heads'
Gerard Manley Hopkins 1873 |
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Buttercup - childishness -
we've all tried the test of whether you like butter by holding
a golden buttercup under your chin.
It used to be believed that the yellow colour of butter came from the cows
eating buttercups! This was a myth as cows avoid the acrid tasting flower. |
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Carnation - betrothal, love
and fertility - this flower was believed to be an aphrodisiac,
hence its popular use at weddings and because of the association
with love it was widely used in wreaths. Gentlemen began to wear
carnations as a button hole, Oscar Wilde developed the fashion
with a dyed green carnation.
The various carnation colours can mean different things:
white - love; yellow - rejection; pink - I'll never forget you; red - aching
heart; |
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Daisy - innocence
and modesty - chanting 'he loves me, he loves me not' as
they plucked the petals from a daisy was how Victorian girls
discovered whether their suitors were true or not. Northern girls
once believed that if they closed their eyes and picked a handful
of daisies, the number they held would foretell how many years
it would be before they married.
Be careful which daisy you send, as the Michaelmas Daisy means farewell. |
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Forget-me-nots - true
love and remembrance - mythology describes this as the flower
chosen by a brave knight as a posy for his sweetheart before
going to battle, as he knelt to gather the tiny blue flowers
he fell into a river and was swept away, calling to his love
to 'forget me not'. |
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Foxglove - insincerity -
the name derives from the shape of the flowers resembling the fingers
of a glove - 'folk’s glove' meaning belonging to the fairy
folk. Folklore tells that bad fairies gave the flowers to the fox
to put on his feet to soften his steps whilst hunting. The whole
foxglove plant is extremely poisonous, but provides a source of
digitalis used by doctors in heart medicine. The foxglove
was believed to keep evil at bay if grown in the garden, but it was considered
unlucky to bring the blooms inside. The commonest colour for the foxglove
is pink, but you often see white blooms in the hedgerows. |
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Heather - good
luck - has been used in past times as bedding, thatching
for roofs, fuel and medicine. White heather is believed to have
protective powers. |
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Hollyhock - fertility
and fruitfulness - tall, bloom-laden hollyhocks produce
hundreds of seeds which they cast out prolifically. |
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Honeysuckle - devoted
love - said to protect your garden from evil. It is known
as the 'love bind' - symbolizing a lover's embrace in its clinging
growing habits. The heady fragrance of the flowers was believed
to induce dreams of love and passion. If the bloom is brought
into the house a wedding is said to follow within the year. The
honeysuckle's berries are poisonous.
'...how sweetly smells the honeysuckle
in the hush'd night...' Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1859 |
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Hyacinth - constancy -
mythology tells how a handsome youth, Hyacinthus, was loved by
the god of the sun, Apollo, but Zephyrus, god of the west wind
became jealous and blew the discus that Hyacinthus was playing
with and killed him. Flowers sprang from drops of his blood and
so became known as hyacinths. |
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Hydrangea - vanity -
a marsh plant that derives its name from the Greek name for 'water-vessel' |
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Iris - symbolises good
news or a message - like the pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow. Derives from the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris
- the messenger of the gods who would ride on the rainbow to
and from earth, in her beautiful multi-coloured robes.
Orris root is made from the iris and is used as a herbal medicine, a magickal
potion and in perfumery - Frangipani. The flowers and leaves used to be
strewn in front of the bride and groom at weddings, and it was believed
that if you were foolish enough to bite the iris root you would stammer
for the rest of your days. |
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Ivy - constancy
- the Latin name, hedera, derives from the Celtic word for
'cord' and Druids revere the plant and often use it in their
rites. |
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Lily - innocence
and purity - used in churches as a symbol of the Virgin
Mary's purity. Dedicated to the Greek goddess
Hera, the wife of Zeus, the beautiful lily was supposedly formed
from drops of Hera's spilt breast milk. During Greek marriage
ceremonies the priest used to place a crown of lilies mixed with
ears of wheat on the bride's head, as a symbol of innocence and
fertility. Shakespeare also used this beautiful flower to represent
purity:
'Now by my maiden honour, yet as pure as the unsullied lily...'
Love's Labours Lost |
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Lily of the Valley - return
to happiness - a beautifully scented, but highly poisonous
flower. It is believed that Lily of the valley protects your
gardens from evil spirits. These fragrant blooms supposedly sprang
from Eve's tears when she was cast out of the garden of Eden. |
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Moss - symbolic of maternal
love - soft and comforting used widely by birds in nesting. |
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Narcissus - self-love
and vanity - the flower name derives from Greek mythology
and the tale of the beautiful Narcissus. He ignored the lovely
nymph, Echo, and so was punished by falling in love with his
own reflection in a pool. The gods believed Narcissus would die
of starvation, so they transformed him into the delicate form
of scented narcissi, so he could stay there forever. |
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Olive - peace - used
as a remedy for tiredness. In Greek mythology the olive tree was
considered a sacred tree blessed by Athena, the ancient goddess
of wisdom. To the Greeks it represented peace and power,
and wreathes of olive leaves were placed on the heads of brave
warriors and olympic athletes.
make a solstice wreath
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Pansy - loving
thoughts and attraction - known also as 'heartsease',
this pretty flower was believed to heal love problems. Anyone
wanting to ensure they were loved by their sweethearts would
carry a pansy.
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Passion flower - spirituality -
missionaries in South America in the 16th century named it the
passion flower because they believed it symbolized the death of
Christ - the sepals and petals represented the disciples; the double
row stood for the crown of thorns, and the stamens stood for the
wounds. |
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Peony - shyness and
beauty - the Chinese name for peony is 'sho yu' - meaning
most beautiful. In folklore the peony was linked to the moon,
it was believed to have been created by the moon goddess to reflect
the moon's beams during the night. During the Middle Ages 'lunatics'
were covered with peony leaves and petals in order to cure them.
It is considered unlucky to uproot the plant, and the seeds and
dried root used to be worn as a protective amulet against evil
spirits. The peony, named after the Greek god of healing, was
also used extensively in medicine. Pliny wrote:
About an infants neck hang peonie,
It cures Alcydes cruell maladie.
This plant also prevents the mocking delusions the fauns bring on us in
our sleep
It was believed that by keeping peony seeds under your
pillow you could avoid nightmares. |
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Poppy - remembrance,
sleep, oblivion - red poppies thrive in disturbed earth
throughout Western Europe, and after the Napoleonic wars the
land was covered in red poppies, as were the fields of Northern
France and Flanders after the First World War. The flower became
the symbol of all the soldiers who had fallen during battle.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below ... 'In Flander's
Fields' John McCrae 1915
Opium poppies made the flower symbolic of oblivion and sleep. The beautiful
and delicate poppy flower only lasts a few days. |
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Primrose - first
love - from the Latin 'primus' - meaning first, due to their
early Spring flowering. The primrose is the sacred flower of
Freya, the Norse goddess of love and was used in rituals giving
honor to her. |
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Snowdrop - hope,
purity - from the Latin 'nivalis' - meaning 'snowy', an
apt name for one of the earliest spring flowers that arrives
during cold conditions. It is known as the 'flower of hope' -
a sign of life returning to the earth after the long winter months.
the Victorians also linked the snowdrop to the dead because it
grew close to the ground and therefore closer to those buried.
It is another bloom that is considered unlucky to pick and bring
into the house. The whole plant is poisonous. |
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Stock - lasting
beauty - heady scented blooms. |
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Sweet pea - farewell
- the beautiful scented sweet pea is the source of an essential
oil used in perfumery.
The name is believed to have first been used by the poet Keats:
'Here are Sweet Peas on tiptoe for a flight,
With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things
To bind them all about with tiny rings'. c.1817 |
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Tulip - fame - originally
a wild flower, growing in Central Asia, named after the Turkish
word for turban. The tulip was a popular trading product, leading
to 'tulipmania' in the 17th century. As with roses different colours
bring their own meanings: red - a declaration of love, yellow -
hopeless love, striped - beautiful eyes |
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Violet - faithfulness and
modesty - during mediaeval times violets were believed to
provide protection from evil spirits, and the leaves were used
on wounds as healing plasters. When Napolean Bonaparte married
Josephine she was said to have worn violets, and he sent her
a bouquet every anniversary. He apparently wore a locket containing
violets he had gathered from Josephine's grave. In medieval times
the violet flower was strewn on the floor as an air freshener
due to it's sweet perfume, and a substance called ionine which
dulls the sense of smell. This fragrant flower was used as a
remedy for insomnia, as an antiseptic and in poultices. |
Long recognised for their medicinal
benefits and culinary enhancement, these potent plants also hold
hidden meanings:
Angelica - inspiration -a tall and
elegant herb praised in folklore as a wonderful medicinal
cure-all remedy. Believed to bloom on the feast day of St. Michael
the
Archangel, around May 8th.
Basil - love and regality - in ancient times accepting
a sprig of basil means you are engaged. Known as the king of herbs, the
name comes from the Greek word meaning king.
Borage - courage - Latin name 'Borago'
may be a corruption of 'corago', meaning ‘I bring heart’,
whilst others believe the name derives from the French 'bourra'
- meaning rough hair due to the short hairs covering the
plant's leaves.
Fennel - strength - believed to
have magical powers in the Middle Ages - borage was hung
over doorways
to keep witches out.
Oregano - joy - an ancient herb
whose name means 'joy of the mountains'.
Parsley - lasting
pleasure and energy - this herb was dedicated
by the Greeks to Persephone, goddess of the underworld, and
used to decorate tombs to please her as she guided the souls
of the dead to the underworld. It was also believed to have
energy-giving powers, so was taken by athletes to improve
their performance.It is also a remedy for bad breath.
Rosemary - remembrance - Latin
for 'dew of the sea', as it is often grown by the sea.Rosemary
is said to grow for thirty-three years and then it will die.
A sprig of this aromatic herb is believed to ward off bad
dreams,
if kept under your pillow.
'There's rosemary, that's for remembrance' - Shakespeare
in 'Hamlet'
Sage - longevity, wisdom and health -
from Latin 'salvere' - to save, the Greeks used this healing
herb for many ailments, including snakebites.
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