The Language of Flowers

       The Language of Flora has been traced by its students to widely different sources, each presenting some true claim to the title, yet none so entirely subverting those of others, as to stand forth alone as its originator; for truly the origin of this voice of the flowers is coeval with their creation, and is still a tongue sufficiently simple and attractive to have a charm for every student of nature, and to suggest appropriate emblems even to the illiterate rustic, who plucks the way-side daisy, or the blue forget-me-not, to be presented to some village maiden as the readiest expression of his love.

"It has long been the preoccupation of ladies to 
over interpret the sentiment of flowers. I have 
taken the liberty of editing and compiling 
several listings by different publishers from
 the Victorian Era for your card crafts." Grimm

       It is, in truth, no creature of modern art, but the free-born child of unsophisticated nature. "Lovely as the rose," "Fair as the lily," or "Modest as the violet," are phrases that seem to come naturally into use, without thought that in this emblematic employment lies the germ of true poetry and the symbolic language of Flora; and though to these will be found added, in the present volume, many wherein the object seems less suggestive of the sense, and where the idea sought to be conveyed is more complex and difficult intelligently to symbolize, yet in this is only presented the floral tongue passing through the same progressive stages that have characterized the annals of every spoken language. In a rude and primitive state, the words are few and simple that suffice to clothe in language the thoughts and desires of an untutored race of men; but with every increasing want, and every new desire, names and forms of thought must be created, until the brief vocabulary of the savage tribe swells into the complex dictionary of an intelligent and civilized people. And so has it been with this universal language. "He cometh forth as a flower and is cut down," is the expressive and universally intelligible language of Scripture. And no less does it early prefigure hope than frailty, We strew them over the shroud of departed love, and plant them to bloom brightly above the grave, that they may speak in spring of a brighter season of hope, and in summer of that heavenly clime that knows only of an eternal summer and a cloudless sky, and in all seasons, of love, and purity, and peace. To these, the simple expressions  of natural feeling, have been added from time to time, from the pages of classic  poetry and the more complex fancies of later writers, a series of ideas attached  to every flower, by means of which the nosegay may be made to take the place of more formal epistles. 

       For the more complicated uses of this beautiful language, a few hints may be necessary to show how extensive is the range of thought its alphabet may communicate. For example, if a flower be given reversed, it implies the opposite of that thought or sentiment which it is ordinarily understood to express: again, a rosebud from which the thorns have been removed, but which has still its leaves, conveys the sentiment, " I fear, but I hope," the thorns imply fear, as the leaves hope; remove the leaves and thorns, and then it signifies that " There may be neither hope nor fear;" while, again, a single flower may be made emblematical of a variety of ideas; a rosebud that has been already used and deprived of its thorns, says, "There is much to hope," but striped of its leaves also, it tells, "There is everything to fear." The expression also of almost any flower may be varied by changing its position. Place the marigold upon the head, for instance, and it signifies "distress of mind"on the bosom, "listlessness." And it may be added, when a flower is given, the pronoun "I" is understood by changing it to the right, thou by inclining it to the left. 

       To the intelligent reader, these suggestions may suffice, and we shall therefore conclude our introduction with the hope that, under the guidance of this little volume, many a bright nosegay may exchange hands, and tell, in its fitting and intelligible language, "a welcome message to fair lady's ear."

Flowers & The Sentiments Which They Represent

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The Language of Flowers:

• The Chef's Garden talks about The Language of Flowers 
• Language of flowers by Channel 3000/News 3
• The Language of Flowers from Schreiner's Gardens
• The Secret Language of Flowers by Balsam Hill