ALBERT R.

MANN LIBRARY

AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY

THE GIFT OF
Isabel Zucker class '26

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 1924 067 884

B y

Cornell University Library

The

original of this

book

is in

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in
text.

the United States on the use of the

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 9240678841 26

I'M

al,LV'ruf'jJ'Vlii!pr,'IV';ajc

d'l I'i:iii-,^,iaiii

PUBLISHED by DE VRIES.IMRRA ET

C;,

BOSTON,

THE

EDITED BY

MISS ILDREWE.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM

THOMAS MILLER.
Plustx-Hteb

bj

ffiolortb

^lafts,

anb Itamcrons WoobtKts,

after

GUSTAVE

DORJ:,

DAUBIQHT, TIMMS, AHD OTHEEB.

BOSTON:
DE
VRIES, IBARRA,

AND COMPANY,

BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by

DE

VRIES, IBARRA & CO.,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

LBOTnOTTPBD AT THE BOSTON STBRBOTYPE FOUNDRY,

Ko< 4 Spring Lane.

Printed by John Wilson and Sons.

.-M

TO

THE READER.
VACANCY seems
ture of
it is
tlie

0^

to

exist in

the litera-

^
*^

present day, which this book,

hoped,

may
is

help to

fill.

There

is

no English work on the Language of

Flowers which
at all satisfactory,
far as

and

no foreign one, as

we

are aware,

which

is

either sufficiently complete, or

exactly adapted to American wants.

The

editor has consulted all the flower books

1

(5)

TO THE READER.
to

known

her in English, French, and German, and belieyes

this will

be found to contain a more copious dictionary, and

descriptions, than
all parts

more appropriate
It is

any of

its

predecessors.
;

designed for

of the United States

but

if

any

are disappointed in not finding here

some flowers they seek,

is

they must remember that this charming language

perfected, and

not yet

we have been

unwilling to attach arbitrary and

of our native blossoms which

unauthorized meanings to

many

certainly deserve and convey a sentiment as well as their older

foreign sisters.

Where
stances,

authorities

differed

in

regard to signification, the

in-

most correct has been carefully sought out; and in some

where two seemed equally good, both are given.

quotations from English authors
(to

The

say nothing of

Latin and other languages) might have been multiplied, and

a very large volume written on this delightful subject

for
was
this

who

is

ever tired of rambling

among

flowers

But

it

necessary to keep the volume of a convenient size

and

must be
expect to

our
find.

excuse for rejecting

much which some may

Trusting that any omissions or inaccuracies

indulgence,

may meet with

of Flowers,''

we commend our new "Language

love flowers.

not to the tender mercies of the critics, but to the attention of

all

who

DECE.MBER,

1885.

INTRODUCTION.

ij^

T was in that age when the golden mornings of the early world were
unclouded by the smoke of
cities,

when the odors from thousands of

untrodden flowers mingled with the

aroma of old
tlest

forests,

and the genits

wind that ever tried

wings,

flapped

its

way through vast realms

first

of sleeping fragrance,

that

Love

set out to discover the long lost

Lanin

guage of the Flowers.

For there had been rumors

the olden world, that before the winged lovers of Earth's

first

daughters

left their

watch beside the star -beaconed

(7)

INTRODUCTION.
all their

battlements of Heaven, and gave up

the

glory for

heart

of

woman,

the

buds and blossoms held

sweet converse together, and that

many

a time

when

the nightingale ushered in the twilight with her song, voices from the flowers had

made low

response, amongst

the glades and rose-girded pastures in the Garden of

Paradise.

Even on Olympus, Love had heard

;

that an
silent,

immortal language never could die

it still

that, although
;

slept

somewhere among the flowers

and many a

time, whilst resting on

some fragrant bed, he had been

awakened by low whisperings, and disturbed by the

heavy beating of
his heart,

which ever seemed urging

him onward

to

commence

his holy mission,

and discover
day

that language, which

had been

lost ever since the

when Eve went weeping from the angel-guarded gates

of Eden.

Love arose and shook the rounded dew in Idosened

pearls from the feathery silver of his wings, and soared
far

away over many a

hill

and

valley, alighting

when

weary, and kneeling lowly, with attentive ear and bowed

head, beside the blossoms
leai'ned
;

but as

yet he had

only

what the bees said when they hung murmuring

over the honeyed bells, and what words the butterflies

whispered
ing wings.

afe

they alighted upon the flowers with subsid-

Onward wandered Love

for

many

a day

although he caught the faint breathing of the blossoms.

IN TROD Ua TION.
yet the meaning of their lowest words was
still

to

him

mystery.

At

last,

weary and sad

at heart,

he sat down
his
to

and wept upon a bed of roses.

er's favorite flower
;

The rose was

moth-

it

had ever been sacred

Venus,
its

and he heard a sound as of low sighing amongst

leaves
;

and when he lay down, he

felt

the drooping

petals falling

upon

his lips
fell
;

and around
it

his neck, as if to
first

catch the tears that

and then
it

was that Love

kissed the Rose and blessed

unawares, for the sweet-

ness and beauty of the flower sank into his heart.

whilst folded

And

upon

his lips, she told

for the

him that ages ago

Jove selected her

Queen of Flowers and the

'Goddess of Beauty; that nothing human had ever surpassed her charms
;

and that when every image of

;

poetry was exhausted, none could equal her own

that,

from the

first

creation of flowers, she had been

named

" the ornament of the earth, the princess of plants, the

eye of the flowers, the blush of beauty, the breath of
love
"
;

and that even when her leaves withered,

to

mark

her immortal origin, she gave not up her breath, but

still

lived in a spirit of invisible fragrance

that she

never
full

knew

old age, but sank to sleep in perfume, in t^e

perfection of her beauty, for she was the fairest

daughter that was born of the Mother of Love.

So Love found
Rose, and she
first

his sweet

and long

lost sister in the

spoke to him in the old language of

10
the flowers, giving
a bell
its

INTRODUCTION.

him

new

lesson every day, until not

bowed

or a

bud expanded, nor a blossom opened Love knowing every word

his
it

beautiful lips, without

whispered.
sister the

For days did Love linger with

sweet

Rose, before he again set out on his pilgrim-

age

but his journey was

now no

longer lonely

he

found a companion in every flower by the wayside, and

held converse with every bud that dwelt within
its

green

homestead of leaves.

Long did Love brood over

the

new language which he

sit

had discovered, and many a day did he

pondering to

himself, as if hesitating whether or not he should trust

Woman

with the secret.

" She

is

already armed with'

pil-

beauty,'' reasoned

Love, as he sat with his elbow

;

lowed on a bed of flowers

eyes,

" there

is

a language in her

and a sweet music

in her voice,

and

shall 1

now

teach her to converse through flowers

to the rose,

to give a

tongue

and a voice to the

lily,

and hang upon the

honeysuckle words of love, and turn every blossom she

gathers into the language

of

afi"ection

No

I will

again
th.ere,

fly

abroad, and dropping a bud here and a bell

see to what purpose she turneth these beautiful

secrets.

I will but at

flrst

teach her a few letters in this

new Alphabet

of Love."
that as the flowers were such holy

Then he thought

things, born of beauty

and nursed

in purity, fed

upon

introduction:
the

11

dews, and seldom looking upon aught less sacred

if

than the stars, as

than
to

they were more allied to heaven

if

earth

that

the

virtue,

and goodness,

and love, which they represent, were but practised by

mankind, they would again make the children of earth what they were
in the infancy of the world,
little

and man would

again be found only " a

lower than the angels."

the flowery
;

Ages passed away before Love entered

fields

and velvet valleys of merry England

light,

his heart

had long been

cared not

and

his wings

unfettered, and he

now

into

what quarter of the world he wan-

dered, for he found that wherever he went upon his flowery errand,

man grew more

refined,

and woman each

day bore a closer resemblance to the angels.

ancient
castles,

He

visited

and humble

hamlets,

and thronged

thorpes, and thatched granges, and taught everywhere

this

new language

of love.

he saw a rustic maiden

with her head hanging aside, and her hands clasped, he

plucked the fragrant blossom of the Hawthorn, and

throwing
it

at

her feet, he whispered into her ear and

bade her Hope.

As

his foot

dashed away the dew from

the up-coned Lilac, he gathered the topmost sprig, and

threw

it

at

her

unsuspecting

lover,

who from

that

moment dated

his first

emotions of Love,

He

pointed

out the spot where

many

a blue-belled flower grew, and

to

there they met, and

vowed

be Constant unto death.

12

INTBODUCTIOX.
So he wandered along; and on wild moorlands, where

rude huts rose, and scarce a flower broke the dark brown
solitude,
cerity
;

Love

left

the broad Pern as a token of Sinscarce a tree

on bleak mountain-tops, where

its

threw down
bell

checkered shadow, he planted the Hareto give a

and the crimson Heather,

Solitude.

charm

to Retire-

ment and

Into the depths of the loneliest

woods he went,

visiting

deep
of

dells

and deserted dingles,

where the graceful

Lilies

the Valley grew, telling

them they were not forgotten, but should yet be proudly worn on many a fond breast that sighed
Happiness.
as
if for

for a

Return of
its

Beside the Marigold, which closed

eyes

very Sorrow, he planted the Celandine, and

that, whilst ever the

promised
it

golden star shone there,

should be the image of Joys to Come.

;

From

flower to

flower he flew on his peaceful pilgrimage

through them

reconciling lovers

who had

long been

estranged, and

bringing back

many

a wandering affection that

had long

sighed for a fond heart to dwell within.

Thus Love restored a language which

centuries had been lost

for undated

which

the sweet tongue of

woman had made music

early world was

of before the

beauty of the

submerged beneath the waters.

For

Time had

all

but blotted out the few records which told

that there ever existed a language between

Love and

the Flowers.

INTRODUCTION.

13

Amid

the broken

and crumbling ruins over which

left

Time has marched, he has only

capital

the

sculptured
in

of

some

column

or

shattered

pedestal,

which we can trace, among a hundred

glyphics, the rough outline of
either

rude

hiero-

some
or

flower, which
to

was
In

sacred to their religion

their love.

the ruins of temples,

forgotten,

whose origin even antiquity has

we

trace in the life-like marble of the figures

brows which are wreathed with blossoms, and in the broken fresco we find groups of maidens strewing the

pathway which leads

the carven altar
is

to

the holy shrine with flowers

piled high with

them

they garland

the
to

neck of the victim which their priests are about

sacrifice;

and

we

know no more.
since that procession

Ages have passed away

moved

the
maidens
has
left

shadows of two thousand years have settled

the hUls and valleys where those beautiful

down over

first

gathered the flowers of summer

history

no record of their existence

the language in

which they breathed their loves, their hopes, and their

fears,
is

has died away

:

even

their
is,

name

as

a nation

forgotten

and aU we know

that their
;

men

looked

noble, and their women beautiful

and that flowers were

;

used in their sacred ceremonies

the

and that

all,

saving
since

mute

figures

upon the marble, have long

14

introduction:

passed away.

We

sigh,

and

try in vain

to

decipher

these ancient emblems.

Love turned

to the fables of the

Heathen Poets, and

there he found that those whose beauty the gods could

not
if

lift

into immortality, they changed, into flowers

as

they considered that next to the glory of bein^ en-

throned upon Olympus, was to be transformed into a

beautiful

and fragrant object; one

that, so long as

sun

shone upon the world, and the globed dews hung their

rounded

silver

upon the blossoms, so long should

all

it

tand throughout
"

time

thing of beauty, and a joy forever."

Thomas

Miller.

D V?

THE

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

SPRING.
MARCH.

GRASSES

(Gramina).

Utility.

HEEE

is

there

any

plant

more useful than the grass

of
the

meadow
care or
;

It

grows
all

without

culture,

over the earth

life

sustaining the

of aU

the
to

animals most

serviceable
nists
tell

man.

Botavarieties

us that more than three hundred

of grass exist.
ful

Many
2*

of

them have exceedingly grace(1")

and

beautiful blossoms.

18

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

WEEPING WILLOW
The common willow
this graceful tree,
is

{Salix Bdbylmica).

Melancholy.

sacred to forsaken lovers

but

whose branches seem to droop with

is

an eternal weight of regret,

appropriated to the graveyard.
its

by universal consent
There, early in spring,

silvery, flexile

branches wave over the resting-places

of those dear to us, and

seem

to

murmur

continually,

with Lafontaine,

is

" Absence

the greatest of all evils."

HORSE-CHESTNUT

{jEseidus hij^ocastanum).

Luxury.

This gorgeous tree bursts into leaf and bloom with

incredible rapidity on the return of spring.

When
and

it is

growing alone, nothing can equal the symmetry of

pyramidal form, the richness of
superb clusters of flowers.
its

its its

foliage,

The

fruit,

however,

is bitter,

and the wood of

little

value.

LILAC
"

(Syringa vulgaris).

First emotion of love.

Lilac, in wliose purple well

Youth, in perpetuOf doth dwell, My fancy feels thy fragrant spell.

" Of all that morning dews do feed All flowers of garden, field, or mead Thou art the first in childhood's creed.

"And,

e'en to me, thy breath in spring

Hath power a little while to bring Back to my heart it blossoming.'* T. W. Parsons.

Van Spaendonck
lilacs.

let his

brush
to.

fall

before a bunch of

Nature seems indeed

have made every cluster

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

perfect.

19
light plays

Around each mass of bloom

decomposed
into

the

and

is

thousand varying shades,

tint,

which,

all

melting into one

make

that

happy har-

mony which
to despair.
" The

dazzles the beholder and drives the painter

various in array, now white. Banguine, and her beauteous head now set With purple spikes pyramidal, as if, studious of ornaments, Yet unresolved which hues she most approved.
lilac,

Now

She chose them

all."

Cowper.

The
its

lilac

symbolizes the
its

first

emotions of love, because

shoots, and
its

tender green,

flexible

abundant

flowers, with their tender

and varied

colors,

aU

recall

those celestial emotions which lend to youth a

grace.

divine

ALMOND
Emblem

(Amygdalus communis).

Heedlessness.

of heedlessness, the almond answers

first to

the call of spring, and covers itself with a shower of

blossoms, like rosy snow, while

leafless.

all

the shrubbery

is

yet

Virgil

makes

it

prophesy of the harvest to

this origin.

come.

Fable gives the almond tree

De-

mophoon, son of Theseus and Phaedra, returning from

the siege of Troy, was thrown by a tempest on the coast

of Thrace, where the beautiful Phyllis then reigned.

The young queen welcomed

the prince, loved him, and

made him her husband.

death of his father,

Recalled to Athens by the

Phyllis
to

Demophoon promised

20

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEIIS.

in

come back
return.
his

a montli,

and fixed the moment of

his

The tender

Phyllis

counted every instant of

at

absence,

and when the long-desired day

:

last

arrived, she ran nine times to the shore

but, having

lost all hope, believing herself forsaken, she fell there,

dead of

grief,

and was changed into an almond

after,

tree.

Three

months

Demophoon returned
sacrifice

disconso-

late at his loss,

he offered a

on the sea-shore,

to

appease

the

manes

of

his

beloved.

She seemed

sensible of his repentance

and return, for the almond

flowers, proving

tree suddenly put forth

effort

by

this

last

that death itself could not

change her.

PERIWINKLE

Vinca minor)

Sweet memories.

The periwinkle has green,

growing on
the

firm, glossy leaves, which,

long, trailing stems,

weave a

fairy net over

grass to

imprison the pretty blue flowers which

This plant
is is

peep out here and there.

lasting happiness
ship,
;

dedicated to

its

color

that preferred

by friend-

and

it

was

for J. J.

Rousseau the emblem of the

sweetest remembrances.

TULIP
The

{Ttilipa gesneriana).

Declaration of love.

tulip is a native of Asia,

and some writers claim

that its

name

arose from

its

resemblance to a turban,

though Thomas Miller says,

is

" Few know that there

a beautiful

fragrant yellow tulip which grows wild

THE LANGUAGE
in our to

'OF

FLOWERS.
It gives pleasure to

21

own

pastoral England.

me

know

that

we

are

neither indebted to Turks nor

flower,

turbans for the

origin of this splendid

which
old

was, no

doubt, more plentiful in the days of our

poets,

Elizabethan

and which
'

is

mentioned

in

Ben
it

Jonson's
still

'

Pan's

Anniversary

by the

very name

bears."

In the East, when a young

it

man

presents
color,

one to his mistress,

that he is on
fire

signifies,

by

its

general
its

with her beauty, and by

black

centre, that his heart is

burned
;

to a coal.

The Turks
in

almost

idolize

this

flower

and every year,

is

the

seraglio of the Sultan, the Feast of Tulips

celebrat-

ed with the ntmost splendor.

In Europe, also, tulips

have had their adorers.

Between the years 1644 and

1647, tulips rose to incredible prices in Holland, and

enriched

many

speculators.

Those who,

for

want of

ready money, could not engage in this trade, exchanged

houses and lands for bulbs.
is

One

variety, the Viceroy,

said to have
!

been sold as high as ten thousand doltraffic

lars

This

extraordinary

was

at

last

checked

by a law that no
for

tulip, or other flower,

should be sold
seventy-five

sum exceeding one hundred and

dollars.

BUCKBEAN

(Menyanthes

trifoliata).

Calmness, repose.

Along that lake whose

less sky,

silvery waters reflect a cloud?

do you see those clusters, as white as snow

light

pink just tinges the reverse of these lovely

22
flowers,

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

and a
tuft of

very delicate filaments of dazzling

alabaster cups.
If

whiteness

escapes from their

this

you

have once- seen

plant,

balancing gently on the

its

edge of the water, you can never forget

elegance
as
it
;

and grace.

The bog-bean,

or

water-trefoil,

is
it

sometimes called, never blooms in stormy weather

expands only in a calm day.

APRIL.

HAWTHORN

{Crattegus).

Hope.

tJE old poets, as if despairing

to find a fitting

name

for this

fragrant blossom, have called

it

May

for to

them

that

word

recalled the

season of poetry,
flowers,

the

month of

and was

fraught with associations of all

that
is

bright and beautiful on the earth."

The Trogloman-

dytes,

who

recalled the golden age

by

their simple

ners,

smilingly covered

those

whom
;

death took from,

they regarded

them with branches of hawthorn

death as the dawn of a
life in

for

which they should part no

more.

In Athens, young maidens carried boughs of

at

hawthorn

the

weddings of their companions

C23)

the

24
altar of

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Hymen was

lighted

by torches made of the wood

see, has always

of this shrub, which, as

we

been the em-

blem of hope.

PRIMROSE

(^Primula vulgaris, or acaulis).

is filled

Modest worth.

English literature

with allusions to this flower.

The primrose,

cowslip, polyanthus,
floral family.

and auricula are

all

members of the same

" Pale primroses, That die unmarried ere tliey can behold Bright Phoebus in his strength." Shakspeare.

"Bring the rathe primrose, that forsaken

" The primrose, tenant of the glade,

dies."

MUton.

Emblem

of virtue in the shade."

J. Mayne, 1609.
Love.

MYRTLE
The oak from
all

(Myrtus communis).

time was consejsrated to Jupiter, the

laurel to Apollo, the olive to Minerva,

and the myrtle to

Venus.

In

Rome

the

first

temple of this goddess was

;

surrounded by a grove of myrtles

in

Greece she was

adored under the name of Myrtea or Murtia.

When

she appeared rising from the sea, the Hours went to

meet

her,

and presented to her a thousand-colored scarf

After her victory over Pallas

and a myrtle garland.

and Juno, she was crowned with myrtle by the Loves.

Surprised one day by a troop of Satyrs, she took refuge

behind a bush of myrtle

this

it

was

also with branches of

tree

that

she

avenged herself on the audacious

dared to

Psyche, who had

compare her charms with


TBE LAXGUAGE OF FZOJVESS.
those of the immortal
says,

25

beauty.

The Flora Domestica

" Myrtle was the symbol of authority for magis-

trates at

Athens

bloodless victors were crowned with

myrtle."

Spears, too, were

made

of

its

wood.
Dryden's
Virgil.

"The war from

stubborn myrtle shafts receives."

The Arabs have recorded an

ancient tradition that

Adam

bore in his hand a sprig of myrtle when he was

It

driven out from the garden of Paradise.

was formerly
also to flavor

much used
wines.
coast.

in medicine
in

and cookery, and

It flourishes

warm

climates, near the

sea-

ACANTHUS
The acanthus
banks of great

(^Acanthus molUs).

Art.

delights

in

warm

countries
its

and the

rivers.

Pliny speaks of

value for dec-

orative purposes.
ture, their vases,

The
and

ancients ornamented their furni-

their valuable

garments with

its

beautifully cut leaves.

The robe of Helen was bordered

in relief.

by a garland of acanthus

VirgU

tells

us also

of a vase from the hand of Alcimedon, adorned with

foliage

imitated

from the acanthus.

This charming

model of the
thing
is

arts has

become

their

emblem.
it

If anyits

opposed to the acanthus, we see

redouble

forces,

and grow with new vigor.

Thus genius

rises

and increases by the very obstacles which seemed insurmountable.

It is related that the architect Callimachus,

passing by the tomb of a young girl

3

who died

within the

26

THE LANOUAOE OF FLOWERS.

happy marriage, was moved by
it.

year, on the eve of a

tender pity, and approached to throw flowers on

But

an offering had preceded

girl,

his.

The nurse of the young

taking the

veil

and flowers which should have

little

adorned her on her wedding day, put them in a

basket
;

then, having placed

it it

beside the tomb on a

plant of acanthus, she covered

with a broad

tile.

The

next spring the acanthus leaves had surrounded the basket

;

but, stopped

by the edges of the

tile,

they bent

back and rounded gracefully towards their extremities.

Callimachus, surprised
at this rural

decoration, which

seemed the work of the weeping

capital of the Corinthian column.

Grraces,

made

of

it

the

BUGLOSS
La Bruyere,
said,
art, if

(Anchma

officinalis.)

Falsehood.

the most spirituel of French moralists,

naturally what they

" If

women were

become by

they should lose in a

moment
the

all

the freshness of

their complexion, if their faces

were as glowing or as
rouge and the paint
This

leady as they

make them by

which they use, they would be inconsolable."

truth
south,

appears incontestable

and

yet,

from

north to

from east

to west,

among savage

or polished na-

tions, this strange taste for painting is universal.

Du-

perron relates how a young savage, wishing to attract his

attention, took a bit of coal

and went

to

pound
it,

it

in a

corner, then, having rubbed her cheeks with

returned
effect

with a triumphant

air, as

if this

had rendered the

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

of her

27
of a
:

charms more sure.

Castellan, speaking

Greek princess whom he painted, describes her thus " Her black eyes, well shaped, and on a

level with her

head, had the brilliancy of diamonds, but her stained eyelids spoiled their expression.

Her eyebrows,

joined by

a pencilled line, gave a kind of hardness to her look.

Her mouth, very

small and highly colored, might have

been embellished by a smile, but I never had the happiness of seeing one.

Her cheeks were covered with a

very deep red, and crescent-shaped patches disfigured her face."

Bugloss has been made the emblem of falsehood, because

its

root

is

used in the composition of several kinds

it is

of paints.

That of vrhich

the basis

is

perhaps the

oldest and least dangerous of aU.

itate

But nothing can imit

the natural blush of modesty, and art destroys

If

irreparably.

we wish

to please long, if

we wish

to

please always, let us discard falsehood from our hearts,

our

lips,

and our

faces, repeating with the poet,

le vrai, le vrai seul est

" Bien n'est beau que

aimable."

REST-HARROW

(Ononis spinosa).

Obstacles.

This plant sometimes stops the labors of the husband-

man by

its

tough network of roots.

its

With

its

pretty

papilionaceous pink flowers,

struck roots,
it is

long thorns, and deeply-

the siren of the fields, and the

emblem

of the obstacles which vice opposes to virtue.

28

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS-

HONEYSUCKLE
Where

(Lonicerd)

Bonds of

love.

" Bid her steal into the pleacli^d bower, honeysuckles, ripened by the sun, Forbid the sun to enter like favorites Made proud by princes, that advance their pride Against that power that bred it."

The poets have repeatedly celebrated

flower under the

this delightful

name
bank

of woodbine.
in

The

delicious

Midsummer

Night's

Dream was

" Quite overcanopied with lush woodbine."

The opposite

attributes of inconstancy

and

fidelity

have been ascribed to the honeysuckle by two poets,

but the following lines
are

most certainly a slander

on this sweet flower

" Inconstant woodbine,' wherefore rove With gadding stem about my bower? Why, with my darling myrtle wove. In bold defiance mock my power."*"

Carew.

Rather
in the

let

us believe with good old

Dan

Chaucer,

Floure and the Leafe,

"

And
Of

To

those that were chapelets on their hede. fresh woodbind, be such as never were love untrue in word, in thought, in dede.

But ay

stedfast, ne for plesauuce ne fere, " Tho' that they shudde their hertis all to tere. Would never flit, but evir were stedfast,
Till

that ther livis these assunder brast."

Sometimes we see a young honeysuckle lovingly wind

its

slender arms around the knotty trunk of an old oak

this

one would say that

aloft, tO'

weak shrub wished, springing

surpass the king of the forests in height; but

THE LAXOVAGE OF FLOWESS.

soon, as if
its

29

efforts

were vain,

it falls

gracefully
festoons.

down
Thus

again, and crowns

him with perfumed

Love sometimes unites a timid

girl to a

proud warrior.

Unhappy Desdemona

the admiration of strength and

courage, and the feeling of helplessness, attached thy

heart to the terrible Othello
in
;

but jealousy struck thee

the

very arms which should have protected thee.

And

thou, gentle and humble

La VaUiere,

the love of

the greatest monarch

heart,

alone

could

subjugate thy poor

and draw

it

away from

virtue.

Poor vine

the

wind of inconstan^jy soon deprived thee of that dear

prop
;

but thou didst never

trail

on the ground

thy
ten-

heart, raising its affections to heaven, carried

its

der
love.

homage

to

Him who
3*

alone

is

worthy of eternal

w
MAY.
LILY OF THE VALLEY

{Convallaria ma/aUs).

Return of

among
the

broad green
leaves, with

what

joy do we greet the

little

ivory bells of

And sweetest nursling of Which men call lily of the

Because
it

" that modest, pale, the wood,

vale,

dwells in lowly

mood "
Parsons,
(30)

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

"

31

No

flower amid the garden fairer grows

lily

Than the sweet

of the lowly vale."

Keats.

" The lUy of the vale, whose virgin flower Trembles at every breeze within its leafy bower." Barton.

Wordsworth does not forget

" That shy plant, the lily of the vale,

That loves the ground, and from the smi withholds Her pensive beauty, from the breeze her sweets."

And Thomson,

in his Spring, bids us

" Seek the bank where flowering elders crowd. Where, scattered wide, the lily of the vale
Its

balmy essence breathes."

PRIVET
"

(Ligustrum mdgare).

Prohibition.

Why,"

said a

young matron

to the venerable pastor

of the village, " have you not planted a strong thorn

hedge, instead of that flowering privet which encircles

your garden ? "

The pastor

replied,

"

When you

for-

bid your child some dangerous pleasure, the prohibition

is

accompanied on your
a caress
;

lips

by a tender smile

your look

is

and

if

he rebels, your maternal hand immeconsole

diately offers a plaything to

ner, the pastor's

him

in like

man-

hedge ought to keep

even to those

off the intrusive,

and

offer flowers

whom

it

repulses."

HEATH
The common

(Erica).

Solitude.

heather, which grows so freely in Great

is

Britain and Germany,

not found wild in this country.

"

32

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

species which are found in conser-

The various elegant

Miller says, "

vatories are mostly natives of the

Cape of Grood Hope.

The heath was

It

well chosen as the

emblem
;

of solitude.

recalls

many

a wild lalidscape

the

bleak, broad mountain side, which, throughout the long

winter and the slow-opening spring, looked black and

barren,
till

towards the end of summer, when

it

was

clothed everywhere with the rich carpet of crimson and

purple heather, looking from the distance as

shine not of earth had

if

a sun-

come down and bathed the whole

mountain steep in subdued and rosy light

vast plains of immeasurable

the

it

recalls

extent

spots where lovers

might

sit

and sigh away their souls

disturbed by the

in each other's

arms

without being
hunter."

foot

of

solitary

POETS' NARCISSUS
This
flower,
is

{Narcissus poeticus).
its

Egotism.

the

most beautiful of

family.

large

of pure white, slightly drooping, with a golden

cup in the centre, which exhales a strong and pleasant

odor.
so

Every one knows the pretty story attached

confine ourselves to three extracts.

to

it

we

Spenser, in

describing a garden, says,

'*

about grew every sort of floure, sad lovers were transformed of yore; Foolish Narcisse, that likes the wat'ry shore."

And round

To which
The
Still

"

pale narcissus, that with passion pure feeds upon itself; but, newly blown,
say, will pluck It from its tender stalk, Go, fool, and to thy image talk.'

The nymphs

And

'

Lord

'Hiurtow,

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

"

33

On

meek and
its

the bank a lonely flower he spied, forlorn flower, with nought of pride,

Drooping

beauty o'er the watery clearness sad image into nearness. Deaf to bright Zephyrus, it would not move, But still would seem to droop, to pine, to love."
its

To woo

own

Keats.

LINDEN,
**

or

LIME

{Tilia).

Conjugal love.

Come

forth,

and

let
!

us through our hearts receive

The joy of verdure Showers cool green

Thick tapestry."

see,
light

the honeyed lime

on banks where wild flowers weave

Mrs. Memans.

This favorite tree commemorates the beautiful story

of Baucis and Philemon. den, and thus
it

Baucis was turned to a

lin-

stands

now an emblem
The

of the

attri-

butes and graces of a faithful wife.

foliage is very

thick and verdant, and the effects of light and shade on

it

bewitching.
air.

The blossoms perfume

;

all

the surroundits flow-

ing
ers

It is a useful tree too

an infusion of

makes a good

tisane

its

bark can be woven into a

kind of cloth, and braided into ropes and hats.

The

Greeks made paper of

it,

resembling that from papyrus,

and specimens made by our modern processes resemble

white satin.
Its

wood

furnishes the poorer classes in

furniture.

Europe with
chestnut

fuel,

shoes, and

The horseits

and other trees have disputed

place

in

avenues and public promenades, but nothing can banish

it.

STRAWBERRY
The
illustrious

{Fragaria vesca).

Perfect excellence.

Bernardin de

St. Pierre

conceived the

project of writing a general history of nature, in imita-

34

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

tion of the ancient authors.

strawberry plant, which

had chatieed

to

grow over
:

his

window, turned him from

this vast design

he observed this plant, and discovered

in
it,

so

many wonders

that he clearly

saw that the study

fill

of a single plant and

lifetime.

its

inhabitants was enough to

title

He

then renounced the ambitious

of his

book, and contented himself with writing Studies of

Nature.
It is

from

this
;

book that we must acquire a

it is

taste for observation

and

there, above

all,

that

we

must read of the strawberry.

All over the world this

in fresh-

charming berry, which vies with the rosebud

ness
taste.

and perfume, delights the

It is a

sight,

the

smell, the
rich,

welcome luxury on the tables of the

and a feast for the children of the poor.

The learned

botanist Linnaeus was cured of frequent attacks of the

gout by
delicate

the

use

of
;

strawberries.

The

flowers
as

are
to

and
?

pretty

but

who

so

barbarous

pluck them

THYME
" I

{Thymus).

Activity.

know

bank whereon the wild thyme grows."

How many

diligent bees sing this song to each other,

and swarm about

the

flowery,

fragrant

tufts

The
;

Greeks regarded this herb as the symbol of activity

doubtless they had observed that
its

perfume, strength-

ening to the brain,

Activity
is

is

very salutary for old persons.

is

a warlike virtue, and this

why

ladies for-

merly often embroidered on the scarf of their knights a

bee humming round a branch of thyme.

TBE LAXGVAGE OF FLOWERS.

35

RED VALERIAN
This
is

(Valeriana rubra).
Its

Readiness.
is

a native of the Alps.

root

said to he

an excellent remedy against most maladies engendered

by luxury, and an infusion of

eyes,
is is

it

is

strengthening to the
It

and animating

to the spirits.

blooms freely and

improved by culture, though our common valerian

perhaps more attractive, and equally useful.
is

The
it is

odor of the root

stated, to rats.

very enticing to eats, and also,

SUMMER.
JUNE.

THE MONTH OF ROSES.

rEEN

of

flowers,

who

that

could sing has not sung thee,

enchanting Rose
pression

Yet no exor

can

exaggerate,
to,

even do justice
fections.
title

thy per-

Perhaps the sweetest

of the Virgin Mother, to

the

heart of

many

a Catholic

maiden,

is

the one of " Rosa Mystica." the

Among
(36)

the

Greeks and Romans

rose was the most conspic-

bf.

ii^'ipffcUe P'ijw

I'is.J'f

id-V/ii'

rUBLISHED BY DE VRIES. IBARRA ETT:. BOSTON.

"

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

37

uous ornament of every festival and every solemn sacrifice,

Syria, Arabia,

and Persia

vie in tiieir admiration

of
its

it.

In the East, indeed,

this fairest of flowers attains

is distilled

greatest perfection.

There

the precious

Attar, which

makes

it

live forever.

Is rich It

"Its breath and when it dies doth bequeath a charm, to sweeten death."

beyond the

rest;

Barry ComwaU.

The

love of the nightingale for the rose

is

continually

mentioned by the Eastern bards, and we

sions to
it

find

many

allu-

in our English rhymes.

" Though With every flower
"What
IS it

Moore

says,

rich the spot

this earth has got,

to the nighting-ale,
is

If there his darling rose

not

-'

And Byron sings,

"

How

welcome is each gentle air That wakes and wafts the odors there! For there the rose, o'er crag and vale,
Sultana of the nightingale,

The maid

for wliom his melody, His thousand songs, is heard on high.

lover's tale:

Blooms blushing to her

His queen, the garden's queen, his rose, Unbent by winds, unchilled by snows. Far from the winters of the west, By every breeze and neason blest, Ketums the sweets by nature given In softest incense back to heaven.

And
Her

grateful yields that smiling sky.

fairest

hue and fragrant sigh,"

In France there takes place annually a beautiful cere-

mony, which, originated

4

as

follows

Saint

3Iedard,


38
bi.sliop

THE LANGUAGE OF FLO^rEBS.

of Noyon, born
at

Salency, of an

illustrious

family, instituted in his birthplace, in

virtue.

532, a prize for

;

This prize

is

a simple crown of roses

village

but

all

the

young people of the

obtains
it

must acknowledge her

who
The

as the
St.

most worthy, modest, and virtuous.

sister of

Medard was unanimously named the

with the example of her

first rosilre.

She received her crown from the hands of

it,

its

founder, and bequeathed

virtues, to posterity.

Time, which has overturned so

many
It has

empires, and broken the sceptre of so

many

kings

and queens, has respected the rose crown of Salency.

continued to pass from the hand of one protector

and another to the brow of innocence.

Chaucer loved the rose, and crowned Venus with a

garland "rosy white and redde."
in

Spenser

tells

us that,

the

contest

of beauty,

" a rosy girlond was the

victor's

meed."

And

after his description of fair

Alma,

in her rich array, he says,

Was

** Her yellow golden heare trimly woven, and in tresses wrought; Ne other tire she on her head did weare, But crowned with a garland of sweet rosi&re."

In

many

a festive scene,

we

beautifully said,
"

find, as Sir Philip

Sidney

rosy garland and a weary head."

Thus the rose has often been used

moral or adorn a tale."
Waller's

to

"point a

One

of the most pleasing of

poems

is

the well-known song, " Go, Lovely

Eose."

Middleton says,

THE LAXGUAGE OF FLOWEIiS.

" I never heard

39

Of any true affection, but 'twas nipt With care, that like the caterpillar eats The leaves of the spring-'s sweetest book the

rose."

Herrick sings,
"Gather the rosebuds while ye may; Old Time is still a flying; And this same flower, that smiles to-day,

To-morrow

will be dying."

And

holy G-eorge
"Sweet

Herbert,

die."

rose, whose hue, angry and brave, Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye. Thy root is ever in its grave.

And thou must

The celebrated Roman de

the
court

la Hose,

the

delight

of

of

Philip

the

Fair,

seems to have been

it

written only to teach us

to a

how dangerous

is

to listen
to

seducing voice

and that modesty ought

defend

beauty, as thorns the rose.

The order of the Golden Rose was

the

instituted
It

by
was

Pope of Rome

in

the

twelfth

century.

formerly sent to
is

new

sovereigns at their accession, but

now presented

annually to some crowned head.

fine
:

little

poem on

the

rose

is

attributed

to

Sappho

" Did Jove a queen of flowers decree, The rose the queen of flowers should be;

Of flowers the eye of plants the gem The meadows' blush; earth's diadem;
;

Glory of colors, on the gaze Lightening in its beauty's blaze. It breathes of love : it blooms the guest Of Venus' ever-fragrant breast
In gaudy

pomp

its

petals spread;

Light foliage trembles round its head; With vermeil blossoms fresh and fair, It laughs to the voluptuous air."

40

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEBS.

Anacreon has sung the praises of the rose
in two

exquisite odes.

In one he says,
!

" O, lovely rose

to thee I sing,
all

Thou

sweetest, fairest child of spring;!

O, thou art dear to

the gods,

The darling of

their blest abodes

breathing buds and blossoms fair Entwine young Cupid's golden hair, When gayly dancing hand in hand, He joins the Graces' lovely band."

Thy

The other one we give

will forgive its

entire, sure that our readers

its

length for

beauty and appropriate-

ness.

The

translation is

by T. Bourne.
sweep the strings

" Thou,

my

friend, shalt

I In loftiest strains will sing, Wliile its fragrance round us flows.

The queen of
Its

flowers, the lovely rose.

perfumed breath ascends the skies

every gentle gale that sighs;

On

Its sweets descend to earth again,

Alike beloved by gods and men. When spring awakes the slumbering flowers, And music breathes amid the bowers. Thee, darling gem, the Graces wear Entwined amid their flowing hair; And rosy wreaths alone may dress The queen of love and loveliness. In every song and fable known The Muses claim thee as their own; Thou bidd'st thy blooming sweetness glow In thorny paths of pain and woe. But O, what joy, when blest we rove Through rosy bowers and dream of love. While bliss on every breeze is borne, To pluok the rose without the thorn; With gentlest touch its leaves to press. And raise it to our soft caress!' O, thou art still the poot*s theme, And thee a welcome guest we deem, To grace our feasts and deck our hair. When Bacchus bids us banish care. E'en Nature does thy beauties prize She steals thy tint to paint the skies;

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

For rosy-fing-ered is the morn With which the crimBon veil is drawn. The lovely nymphs we always deck
"With rosy arms and rosy neck ; And roseate tints are ever seen

41

To bloom the cheeks of

Its

beauty's queen.

power to soothe the pang^s of pain Physicians try, nor try in vain; And e*en when life and hope are fled, Its deathless scent embalms the dead; For though its withering- charms decay, And one by one all fade away,
Its grateful smell the rose retains,

And redolent of youth remains. But, lyrist, let it next be sung From whence this precious treasure sprung, "When first from ocean's dewy spray
Fair Venus rose to upper day, "When, fearful to the powers above, The armed Pallas sprimg from Jove, 'Twas then, they say, the jealous earth llrst gave the lovely stranger birth. drop of pure nectareous dew From heaven the blest immortals threw; while it trembled on the thorn, And then the lovely rose was bom. To Bacchus they the flower assign. And roses still his brows entwine."

A
A

Tasso gives us an exquisite description of the rose.

"

Deh

mira, egli cant5, spuntar la rosa

Dal verde suo modesta e verginella, Che mezzo aperta ancora e mezzo ascosa, Quanto si mostra men, tanto h piu bella, Ecco poi nudo il sen gla baldanzosa
Dispiega, ecco poi langiie, e non par quella, Quella non par, che desiata avanti

Fu da

mille donzelle e mille amanti.

" CoBi trapassa al trapassar d'un giomo Delia vita mortale il fiore e'l verde."

And

Ariosto

tells us,

fe

Ger, Lib., Canto XVI.

" La verginella simile alia rosa Ch* in bel giardin su la nativa spina Mentre sola e sicura si riposa, Nfe grcgge nfe pastor se le awicina

4*

42

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

i' alba rugiadosa, L'acqua, la terra al suo favor s'lncliina Giovoni vaghi e donne inamorate Amano averne e seni e tempie ornate." Orl. Fur.f Canto

L' aura soave e

I.

The
told
:

origin of the thorns on the rose

*'

is

thus fancifully

Young Love, rambling through, the wood, Found me in my solitude,

Bright with dew, and freshly blown, trembling to the zephyr's sighs. But as he stooped to gaze upon The living gem with raptured eyes. It chanced a bee was busy there Searching for its fragrant fare ; And Cupid, stooping, too, to sip, The angry insect stung his lip, And, gushing from the ambrosial cll, One bright drop on my bosom fell. Weeping, to his mother he Told the tale of treachery And flhe, her vengeful boy to please, Strung his bow with captive bees; But placed upon my slender stem The poisoned sting she plucked from them And none, since that eventful morn, Have found the flower without a thorn."

And

ROSEBUD.
"

Confession of love.

Who

can view the ripened rose, nor seek

To^'^"''"-"

Byron.
is

Yet

to

many
"The
"

the rose

lovelier

before

she

" ex-

pands her paradise

of leaves."
'tis

rose is fairest wlien

budding new,"

Ah

Scott. see the virgin rose, liow sweetly shee

first

Doth That

fairer

peepe forth with bashfull modestee, seemes the less ye see her may."
Spenser,

Thomson
"

praises

red rosebud, moist with morning dew, Breathing delight."

THE LAXaUAGE OF FLOWEBS.

43

WHITE ROSE
It

(Bosa cUba).

Silence.

was fabled that

authorities

all

roses

were originally white

but the
red.

differ

widely as to

how
The

it is,

became
that
it

The legend most generally received

was colored by the blood of Adonis.

ancients

represented the god of Silence under the form of a

young man, putting one

ing in
the

finger

on his
rose.

lips,

and holdrose

other

hand a white

was

carved on the door of banqueting halls, to signify to

the guests that nothing said there should be repeated.

Sometimes the rose was painted on, or suspended from,

the
ceiling.

Hence the expression " sub

age,

rosa, "

for

secrecy.

Happy

when a
I

rose was enough to seal

the lips of the tale-bearer

The white rose

is

connected with more melancholy

than the brilliant red rose.

scenes and thoughts

In

the " Lay of the Last Minstrel," when the

sad, anxious

Margaret came on her palfrey,

" White was her wimple and her veil. And her loose locks a. chaplet pale Of wlutest roses bound."

And

at

the
"

tomb of Byron's Zuleika,

single rose is shedding

Its lonely Instre,

meek and
by

pale;

It looks as planted

despair,

So white, so faint, the slightest gale Might whirl the leaves on high."
*'

Bring flowers, pale flowers, o'er the bier to shed, A crown for the brow of the early dead For this through its leaves hath the white rose burst."
'.

"

By the Weep
I

garland on the bier. a maiden claims thy tear Broken is the rose," Mrs, Hemans,

44

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS,

MOSS ROSE

{Rosa musoosa). Superior merit. Voluptuousness.

PHETTY

translation

from

the

G-erman gives us the origin of

this

superb rose.
fell

The Angel
asleep

of

the Flowers

one

day
gave

under a rose

tree,

which

him refreshing shade,

waking, 'spoke
'* '
:

and

on
he

thus

in

rapture

mine. be thine ?
*

Thou queen of my bowers, Thou fairest of flowers,

What gift shall be And what guerdon

'

In guerdon of duty-

Bestow some new beauty,' She said; and then smiled

Like a mischievous child. In ang-er he started. But ere he departed, To rebuke the vain flower In the pride of her power, He flung some rude moss

Her fair bosom across; But her new robes of green So became the fair queen. That the Angel of Flowers
Mistrusted his powers.

And was heard to declare He had granted her prayer."

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWESS.

45

WILD BRIER, SWEET BRIER ROSE,

Poetry.

or

EGLANTINE.

This

is,

par

excellence, the flower of the poets.

Hear

them.
"

A Bweeter spot

1 looked and looked, and

of earth was never found, Rtill with new deligfht, Such joy my soul, such pleasures filled my sight. And the fresh eglantine exhaled a breath Whose odors were of power to raise from death.'' Dryden, from Chaucer.

Spenser teUa us of an arbor

**

Through which the fragrant eglantine did spred His prickling arms, entrayld with roses red. Which daintie odours round about them threw."

" Its sides T'U plant with dew-sweet eglantine."

Keats.
" Grateful eglantine regales the smell."

Cowper
" Here eglantine embalms the air."
Scott.
**

brier rose,

whose buds

Yield iragrant harvest for the honey bee."

** The chestnut flowers are past, The crowning glories of the hawthorn fail.

But arches of sweet eglantine are From every hedge."

cast

Mrs. Semans. " The wild-brier rose, a fragrant cup To hold the morning's tear."
Atiss

Landon.

In Cymbeline we find Arviragug saying that the grave

of Fidele, while he lives there, shall not lack
"

The

leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, Outsweetened not thy breath,"

46

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

" Eglantine est la fleur que j'aime."

Clemence Isaure

is

made

to
;

say,

in

the

pretty

old

romance that bears her name

and a golden eglantine

was one of the prizes at the celebrated Floral

of Toulouse,
instituted

Games
of

by her; a

fuller

account
article

which

will

be found

immediately after the

on

the violet.

JULY.

MUGWORT

(^AHemisia vulgaris or ponticum).

Good

luck.

Happiness.

HERE
the

is

a superstition

among
a

French peasantry that

wreath of this plant, gathered

and worn on midsummer eve,

has power to preserve the wearer

from
or

all

attacks of evil spirits

year.

men, throughout the

With regard

to

the

name

of this plant, a quaint old

tells us,

French translation of Pliny

" La gloire d'im-

poser les noms aux herbes n'a pas seulement appartenue

aux hommes,

elle

e.st

aussi

venue jusqu'a enflammer

;

le

cerveau des femmes, qui ont voulu avoir leur part

la

car

royne Artemisia, femme du riche Mausolus, roy de

fit

Carie,

tant par son Industrie, qu'elle baptisa de son

nom

I'armoise, qui, auparavant, etoit appel^e parthenis.

(47)

48
Toutefois
ete
il

TBE LANCrUAaE OF FLOWERS.

y en a qui tiennent ce

nom

d'artemisia avoir

impost h Tarmoise, a raison de la deesse Artemis

Ilithya (Diana), paroeque cette herbe est particulidrement

bonne aux femmes."

The fragrant southern-wood be-

longs to this family, and also the bitter

wormwood.

WHITE JASMINE
The jasmine seems

(^Jasminum

officinale).

Amiability.

to

have

been created as the

branches bend grace;

emblem
fully to

of amiability.

Its supple

every caprice of the trainer

it

and whether in the

shape of bush, tree, or arbor,

lavishes on us a shower
It

of fragrant, star-like blossoms.

grows now in

all

warm

climates, but

was introduced into Europe from

Its fragrance,

India by Spanish navigators, about 1560.

like the woodbine's, is stronger

towards night.

" Many a perfume breathed From plants that wake while others sleep, From timid jasmine buds, that keep
Their odors to themselves all day, But, when the sunlight dies away, Let the delicious secret out."

Moore.

The Earl of
pretty stanzas
:

Carlisle is

the author of the followin<' o

TO A JASMINE TREE.
"

My

slight and slender jasmine tree, That bloomest on my border tower, Thou art more dearly loved by me Than all the wreaths of fairy bower

1 ask not, while 1 near thee dwell, Arabia's spice, or Syria's rose;

Thy light festoons more freshly smell, Thy virgin White more freshly glows.

fHE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

My
mild and winsome jasmine tree, That climbest up the dark gray wall. Thy tiny flowerets seem in glee,

49

Lite silver spray-drops, down to fall Say, did they from their leaves thns peep When mailed moss-troopers rode the hill, When helmed warders paced the keep. And bugles blew for Belted Will?

My

free and feathery jasmine tree. Within the fragrance of thy breath Ton dungeon grated to its key.

And the On border

The

fray,

chained captive pined for death. on feudal crime,

I dream not, while I gaze on thee; chieftains of that stem old time

Could ne'er have loved a jasmine tree."

It is related that

a duke of Tuscany,

who was

the

first

possessor of the plant in Italy, forbade his gardener to

take off a single flower or cutting.

The gardener might

love.

have been

faithful

had he not been in

On

the

birthday of his mistress he presented her a bouquet containing one sprig of the precious jasmine.

She put

it

in

moist earth to keep fresh

it

took root, grew, and multi-

plied under her skilful hands.

She was poor, her lover

was not

rich,

and her careful mother forbade their union.

girl,

But the young

a
little

by selling her jasmines, soon amassed

girls stUl
;

dowry.

The Tuscan

wear a wreath of

jasmine on
that a
to

their

wedding day
to

and they have a proverb

wreath
is

maiden worthy

wear

this

rich

enough

make her husband's

fortune.

CARNATION
The

(Diarahus caryaphyUua).

Pure and deep

love.

variety of shades produced in this

flower
it

by

skilful cultivation is

almost

infinite,

making

a great

50

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS,

But through
all

favorite witli florists.

changes

it

still

preserves

its

beauty aud fragrance.

The great Conde.

Louis XIV., whose

loved and cultivated carnations, and had the courage to

wear one in

his button-hole before

is

aversion to perfumes

well known.

Pope

says,

" To the Elysian shades

Dismiss

my

soul,

where no carnation

fades.*'

And

in one of the

most enchanting scenes that even

Shakspeare ever wrote, he makes sweet Perdita say,

" The fairest flowers of the season Are our carnations and streaked gillyflowers."

VERVAIN

{Verhenahastata).

Enchantment.

Vervain was used among the ancients in various kinds

of
divination,

and among other properties, that of

it.

reconciling

enemies was attributed to

When

the

Romans

sent heralds to carry to nations peace or war,

one of them carried vervain.

est veneration for this plant
;

The Druids had the

before gathering

great-

it

they

made

a sacrifice to the Earth.

The Magi, when adoring

Venus

the sun, held branches of vervain in their hands.

victrix

wore a crown of myrtle interwoven with vervain,

to this

and the G-ermans

day give a wreath of vervain to

this

brides, as if to put

them under the protection of

of

goddess.

In the northern provinces

it

France, the

shepherds gather

with ceremonies and words

known

only to themselves.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

51

TARES
The
tare is

(Lolium termUeiitum).
to, symbolize vice.
it

Vice.

made
;

Its stalk

resem-

bles that of wheat

grows up in the

finest harvests.

The hand of

the wise
it

and

skilful cultivator roots it

up

with care, that

may

not be confounded with the

diligently to

good

grain.

Thus a wise instructor ought

eradicate every inclination to vice which springs

up

in

the youthful heart

at the

but he should beware lest he uproot

virtue.

same time the germs of

MARSHMALLOW

(Althea officinalis).

Beneficence.

The marshmaUow, which

poor man's friend.
It

typifies beneficence, is

the

grows wild along the brook and

its

around the cottage, and sometimes shows

modest

head

in the garden.

It is

soft,

silvery-looking plant,

with delicate, pretty pink flowers.

leaves, the stalk,

The

flowers,

the

and the root are

all useful.

Various
juices,

pastes

and sirups are prepared from

its

as

pleasant to the taste as they are excellent for the health.

A lost traveller
ment
in
its

has sometimes found wholesome nutri-

root.

We

need only look around us to

of
love

discover,
foresight.

everywhere in nature, proofs

and

But

this

tender mother often conceals, in

plants as in men, the greatest virtues under the most

modest

exterior.

52

THE LANOUAGE OF FLOWERS.

(^.idonia

FLOS ADONIS
Adonis was
left for

autumnalis).

Painful recollections.

killed

by a wild boar.

Venus, who had

him

the delights of Cythera, shed tears over his

;

fate

they were not lost

the earth received them, and

plant

immediately produced

a slender

covered with

flowers like drops of blood.

LOCUST

(Robinia pseudo-acacia),

Platonic love.

This fine tree was carried from America to France,

more' than a century ago, by the botanist Robin, who

gave
fresh,

it

his

name.

Its foliage is exceedingly light

and

and

its

white, drooping flowers very fragrant.

The

Indians are said to have

buried their dead under
its

made bows
shade.

of

its

wood, and

AUGUST.

WHITE LILY
"n

(LUium candidum).

Majesty.

Purity.

est le roi des fleurs, dont la rose est la reine."

BoisjoUn.

EAB

to the heart of every one is

It stands with

this regal flower.

ineffable

grace
rises

on

the

elegant

stem which

from

its circle

of

long green leaves, and breathes

out the richest incense.
It is a

native of Syria, but has reigned

in our gardens

from time immemorial.

it.

The sovereigns
It

of France have especially honored

the

bloomed in
it

gardens of Charlemagne.

Louis VII. placed

seals.

on his coat of arms, coins, and

5*

Philip Augustus
(''')

54

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

standard with
lilies.

sprinkled his

St.

Louis wore a
lilies

ring representing, in enamel and relief, a wreath of

and

daisies,

and pn the stone was graven a

:

crucifix with

these words

" Hors cet annel pourrions-nous trouver

amour

" because, indeed, this ring

all

combined

for the his reli-

pious king the emblems of

he held dear

gion, his country, and his wife.

**

Crowned with a wreath of

lilies, breathing cool Their fragrance o'er his throbbing temples, comes July, with languid step."

" Long alleys, falling down to twilight Or opening upon level plots Of crowned lilies, standing near
Purple-spikad lavender."

grots,

Tennyson.

" Nor snow-white lily, called so proudly fair. Though by the poor man's cot she loves to dwell, Nor finds his little garden scant of room To bid her stately buds in beauty bloom." Mri. Norton.

GARDEN GILLYFLOWER
The
gillyflower,
less
lily,

(Cheiranthus annuus).

Lasting Beauty.

graceful

than

the rose,

less

majestic than the

either.

keeps

its

freshness longer than

The

old English poets

it.

loved the gillyflower,

and made frequent allusions to

In Germany, surpris-

ingly fine effects are produced with this flower.

Mme.

de la Tour says,

"At an
ware,

old chateau near

Luxemburg

were arranged, along an immense terrace, four rows of

vases,

of

coarse
;

but well
all

shaped,

and of the

purest white

these were

filled

with the finest red

FiJBLISHED

B7DE

VRiES. IBARRA ET

'"

=
,

BOSTON.

THE LANGUAGE OP FLOWERS.

gillyflowers.

55

Towards sunset one would have said that

were issuing from these vases, and a balthe air around."

living flames

samic odor

filled

WHEAT

(Triticum vulgare).

Wealth.

This plant seems to have been conferred on man,

together with the use of of the earth.
It is
fire,

to assure to
first

him the sceptre

of
society,

one of the

links

because

its

culture exacts

mutual labor and services.

An

Arab, lost in the desert, had eaten nothing for two

Nearly dead with hunger, in passing by a well
little

days.

where caravans stopped, he saw on the sand a

leather bag.

" God be praised," said he, picking

this is a little flour."

it

up

" I believe
but, seeing

He

hastily

opened

it,

what

it

that I

am

It is nothing but gold dust

contained, exclaimed, " Unfortunate "

!

DAHLIA

(Dahlia).

My

gratitude exceeds your cares.

Novelty.

This showy plant comes from Mexico, where

are eaten, roasted in the ashes.
into
It

its

roots

was

first

introduced

Europe as an

edible, but

proved of too strong a

cultivate
it

flavor,

and botanists soon began to

which were
Dahl,

for its

flowers,

at first only single.

It is

named

from Andrew

a celebrated

Swedish

botanist.

Cultivation has developed a countless variety of shades,

whilfe

improving the shape of

it

this flower,

and English

gardeners hold

in great esteem.

56

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

{Calmchila
Grief.

GARDEN MARIGOLD
"

officinalis).

Chagrin.

No marygolds yet closed are, No BhadowB yet appear."

Herrich.

" But, maiden, Bee, the day is waxen olde, And 'gins to shut in with the marygold."

Browne.

The celebrated Mme. Lebrun painted a pretty

picture, representing Grief

little

under the form of a young

man, pale and languishing, whose head seemed bent

under the weight of a wreath of marigolds.
nearly
it

It

blooms
called

all

the year round

therefore the
It
is

Romans

the Flower of the Calends.

till

open only from

nine A. M.

about three P. M., but turns towards

the sun, and follows his course from east to west.

In

July and August

the nasturtium
color.

it

emits luminous sparks by night, like

and a few other plants of the same

Margaret of Orleans, the maternal grandmother

for her device

of

Henry IV., took

a marigold turning

to the sun, with the motto,

lui seul."

" Je ne veux suivre que

The

older poets called

it

simply gold.

Chaucer de-

votes the marigold to jealousy.

" and Jalousie, That weved of yelwe goldes a girlonde."

Spenser associates

it

both with bridals and funerals.

Chatterton mentions
" The mary-budde, that ahutteth with the light."

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Shakspeare evidently cherished
this flower.

" The marigold, that goes to bed with the sun, And with him rises weeping."
'* like marigolds, had sheathed their light, canopied in darkness sweetly lay, Till they might open to adorn the day."

And

*'

Hark

hark the lark at Heaven's gate sings, Phoebns 'gins arise, His steeds to water at those springs
! !

And

On chaliced flowers that lies. And winking mary-bndds begin

To ope their golden eyes; With every thing that pretty
bin,

My
The

lady sweet, Arise, arise

arise,

"
!

practical

Gay
is

tells us,

" Fair

the marigold, for pottage meet."

The more

poetical Keats sings,

" Open afresh your round of starry folds. Ye ardent marigolds Dry up the moisture of your golden lids For great Apollo bids That in these days your praises shall be sung On many harps, which he has lately strung; And when again your dewiness he kisses.
I

Tell him I have you in my world of blisses So haply when 1 rove in some far vale. His mighty voice may come upon the gale,"

"We end with part of a

"

fine piece

by George Wither

When with a serious musing I behold The grateful and obsequious marigold, How duly every morning she displays Her open breast, when Titan spreads his rays; How she observes him in his daily walk. Still bending towards him her small, slender stalk; How, when he down declines, she droops and mourns, Bedewed as 'twere with tears till he returns;

58

THK LANOUAOE OF FLOWERS.

And how Bhe veils her flowers when he is As if she soornSd to be looked on By an inferior eye, or did contemn To wait upon a meaner light than him
;

gone,

When
Have

I thus meditate, methinks the flowers spirits far more generous than ours.

And

give us fair example to despise The servile fawnings and idolatries Wherewith we court these earthly things below.

Which merit not

the service

we bestow."

MIGNONETTE
"

(Reieda odorata).

Your

qualities surpass

your

charms.
gorgeous flowers the meek Reseda grace. sip with eager trunk yon busy race Her simple cup, nor heed the dazzling gem That beams in Fritillaria's diadem." Evans.

No

Yet

Cowper says

in the Task,

" What are the casements lined with creeping herbs. The prouder sashes fronted with a range Of orange, myrtle, or the fragrant weed. The Frenchman's darling "
!

We
its

owe the reseda

to Egypt.

Linnaeus compared

perfume to that of ambrosia.

it

At

sunrise and sun-

set

is

sweetest and
till

most penetrating.
it

Flowering
is

from spring
versal

autumn, in doors or out,

a uni-

favorite.
it

By

keeping

it

in a temperate,

even

atmosphere,

grows woody, and becomes a

little tree,

living several years.

DATURA
The
foliage

(JDatura arhorea).

Deceitful charms.

of

this

plant

seems faded and lanat

guishing in the daytime, but

night appears reani-

mated, and

its

beautiful flowers exhale an intoxicating

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

but dangerous perfume.
stories

59

One of
it
;

HoflPman's "wonderful

was suggested by

the following sonnet upon

" M^estic plant
!

it

and Mrs. Hemans wrote

such fairy dreams as lie Nursed where the bee sucks in the cowslip's bell, Are not thy train those flowers of Tase-Uke swell. Clear, large, with dewy moonlight filled &om high, And in their monumental purity Serenely drooping, round thee seem to draw Visions linked strangely with that silent awe Which broods o'er Sculpture's works. A meet ally For those heroic forms, the simply grand, Art thou; and worthy, carved by plastic hand, Above some kingly poet's tomb to shine In spotless marble; honoring one whose train Soared, upon wings of thought that knew no stain. Free through the starry heavens of truth divine."
:

AUTUMN.
SEPTEMBER
FORGET-ME-NOT
(Myosotis palustris).

Forget

me

not.

HERE

is

a flower, a lovely flower,

Tinged deep with Faith's unchanging

hue,

Pure as the ether in its hour Of loveliest and serenest blue.

The streamlet's gentle side it seeks, The silent fount, the shaded grot.

And

sweetly to the heart it speaks. Forget me not, forget me not

Halleck.

{Trmis.fromthe Gerrrum.)

A- story

is

told in

Germany, that two young lovers

were walking on the banks of the Danube, when a

TBE LAXOUAGE OF FLOWERS.

cluster

6l

of flowers of celestial blue floated by on the

stream.
regrets
seizes
at

Struck by their beauty, the girl admires and

them.

Her

lover

springs

into

the

water,

the flowers,
crying,

and has just time to throw them

" Love, forget

her feet,

me

not,''

before

he disappears in the swift current.

CHINA-ASTER
This
beautiful in
aster

{Aster sinensis).

Variety.
it

comes from China, where

and

is

cultivated
as

great perfection,

extensively used

a decoration.

They

are

planted in pots, and arcolors

is

ranged according to

their

in

charming lines
heightened
of
water.
culture.

and masses, the

efiect

of which a stream
its'

often

by

their

reflection

in

or

sheet

The

china-aster

owes

variety to

skilful

Thus study can vary continually the graces of the mind.

TUBEROSE
The
tuberose

(Polianthes tuberosd).

Voluptuousness.

seems to
in

be

first

mentioned

by a

European writer
whether
it

1594.

There has been some doubt

came from the East Indies or from Mexico

country seems to have most evidence
it

but the latter

in its favor.

Father Camell says

was imported from

Mexico to the Philippine Islands by the Spaniards, who

called It
it

Vara de S. Jose, or

St.

Joseph's wand.

was carried from Persia

its

to

France In 1632.

It

was single then, but

hands
of a
skilful

petals were doubled

under the

florist

of Leyden

named Lecour;

62
thence
it

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

spread
all

over

the

world.

In Eussia
it

it

blooms only for czars and courtiers, but in Peru

naturalized.
Its lovely spires

is

terminate a

tall,

slender
is

stem, and

exhale
if

strong, sweet

perfume, which

oppressive

inhaled too closely.

Moore

tells

us of

" The tuberose witli her silvery light, That in the gardens of Malay Is called the mistress of the night,'
'

So like a bride scented and bright, She conies out when the sun's away."

MORNING GLORY

(^Convolvulus purpureus).

Coquetry.

" Convolvulus, in streaMd vases flush." Keats,

" Yes, thou canst smile and be as gay As thouf;h no heart thy guile had broken, While every step along my way Brings up of thee some painful token.

Thou breathest in a dozen ears The same fond words once breathed to me While I, alas in secret tears, Can only think and dream of thee."
!

The Flower Vase.

*

Aux

feux dont Pair etincelle S'ouvre la bellc-de-jour; Zephyr la ilatte de I'aile La friponne encore appelle Les papillons d'alentour.
Coquettes, c'est votre

emblSme
plait.

Le grand
Sans

jour, le bruit

Briller est votre art

6clat, le plaisir

vous auprgme;

mme

Devient pour vous sans attrait." Ph. de la Madeline.

HELIOTROPE

{Ilelioiropium,

perumanum).

I adore you.

Intoxication.
" Heliotrope, whose gray and heavy wreath Mimics the orchard blossom's flrulty breath."

Mrs, Norton.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

63

One

day, the

celebrated Jussieu, botanizing in the

Cordilleras, felt

himself almost intoxicated with a most

:

delicious
liant

perfume

he expected to discover some

bril-

flower,

but found only pretty bushes of a soft

green, crowned with clusters of a pale, lustreless purple.

He

approached these bushes

(which

were

six

feet high), and saw that the flowers with which they

were loaded,

all

turned to the
it

sun.

Struck with this

circumstance, he gave
the

the
sun,

name
and

of heliotrope, from
trope, turn.

Greek words

helios,

Elat-

ed with his new conquest, he hastened to gather some

seeds
of
it,

and send

to

the

Jardin du Boi.

The
enthu-

ladies of Paris

received the
it

new

plant with

siasm
called

they placed
it

in

the

most

precious vases,
indiffer-

" herb of love," and received with

not contain
it.

ence a bouquet which did

cultivated
for the first
its

It

was

time, in Europe, in 1740, and

as

immediately took
able
society.

place

a favorite in fashion-

SUNFLOWER
*'

{Heliartthus annuus).
orient sunflower

False riches.
the crowd

The gaudy

&om

Uplifts its golden circle."

Maturm.
" Sunflowers, planted for their gilded show, That scale the window's lattice ere they blow; Then, sweet to habitants within the sheds, Peep through the diamond panes their golden heads."
Clare.

" Uplift, proud sunflower, to thy favorite orb. That disk whereon his brightness seems to dwell; And as thou seem'st his radiance to absorb, Proclaim thyself the garden's sentinel."

BarUm.

64

TBE LANGTTAOE OF FLOWERS.

The
sunflower,
too,
is

a native of Peru, where

it

was formerly honored as the image of the star of

day.
tivals,

The Virgins of the Sun,

in their religious festhis

wore a golden crown, representing

immense
in

flower,

which also glittered on their breasts and

their hands.

Poets have wrongly imagined this plant

to turn
it

towards the sun, and sometimes confounded

so unlike
it.

with the heliotrope, though

Lord Thurlow crowns Jealousy with the sunflower,

yellow being
It is said

her appropriate color.

Pythius, a rich

that

Lydian, possessing

several gold mines, neglected the culture of his estates,

and only employed

his

numerous slaves

in the mines.

His wise wife one day ordered a supper to be served up

to

him, at which aU the dishes were

filled

with gold.
in

" I give you," said she, " the only thing we have abundance
self
;

you can reap only what you sow

is

see your-

whether gold

so great a

good "

This lesson

made

the desired impression, and he acknowledged that

Providence had not abandoned true riches to man's

avarice.

WALL-FLOWER

(Cheiranthm

cheiri).

Fidelity in misfortune.

" The yellow wall-flower stained with Iron brown."

Tliomson,

" With cloudy

fire

the Wall-flowers burned."

" Wall-flowers in fragrance bum themselves away With the sweet season on her precious pyre."

THE LAXGCAGE OF FLOWERS.

'*

Qto

Flower of the solitary place Gray Ruin*8 golden crowD, That lendest melancholy grace To haunts of old renown."
!

Moif, "

An emblem

true thou art

Of love's enduring lustre, given To cheer a lonely heart."

Barton.

Minstrels and troubadours formerly wore a sprig of

wall-flower as the

emblem of an

affection

which

resists

time and survives misfortune.

During the reign of terror

in France, the sepulchres of the kings in the

St.

Abbey

of

Denis were broken open and violated, and the remains

thrown into an obscure court behind the choir of the

church.

There the revolution forgot them.

The poet
it

Treneuil, going to visit this sad spot, found

brilliant

with the blossoms of the wall-flower.

to its

This plant, true

character, breathed out

its

perfume, like incense

fine

rising to heaven,

and inspired the poet with a

apos-

trophe to

it.

OCTOBER.

IVY

(Jledera helix).

Friendship.

EiENDSHiP
device
fallen

has chosen for

ivy

its

an

surrounding
the

tree,

with

motto,

" Nothing can detach me."

In

Greece the hymeneal

wreathed with
of
pair,
it

altar

was

ivy,

and a branch

was presented to the bridal

as the

symbol of indissoluble union.

The BacThe
crown

chantes, old Silenus, and Bacchus himself, were crowned

with ivy.
fadeless

In Egypt

it

was consecrated to
it

Osiris.

green of the ivy made

suitable

for the poet.

"

An

Would

ivy wreath, the poet's prize, lift MsBcenas to the skies."

Horace.
(66)

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

It

67

was a favorite with Milton.

Eve

bids

Adam

" Direct the clasping ivy where to climb."

Wordsworth, speaking of an old church, overgrown

with ivy, gives ns this pretty picture
"*
:

Dying insensibly away

From human thoughts and purposes. The building seems, wall, roof, and tower, To bow to some transforming power,

And

blend with the surrounding trees."

seen, in winter's stormiest day,

" Hast thou

The trunk of a blighted oak; Not dead, but sinking in slow decay,
Beneath Time's resistless stroke; ivy had grown, And Avreathed it with verdure no longer its own?

Round which a luxuriant

O, gmile not, nor think it a worthless, thing, If it be with Instruction fraught That which will closest and longest cling Is alone worth a serious thought. Should aught be unlovely which thus can she.! Grace on the dying, and leaves not the dead?" Barton,

With

the Ivy
'*

Song of Mrs, Hemans, we end,

0,

how could fancy crown with thee. In ancient days, the God of Wine, And bid thee at the banquet be
Companion of the vine ? Ivy' thy home is where each sound Of revelry hath long been o'er, Where song and beaker once went rouu.l. But now are known no more. Where long fallen gods recline. There the place is thine.

The Roman on his battle plains, Where kings before his eagles bent, With thee, amidst exulting strainsi Shadowed the victor's tent.

68

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Though shining
there in deathless green,

Triumphally thy boughs might wave, Bettor thou lov'st tlie silent scene Afound the victor's grave Urn and sculpture half divine
:

Yield their place to thine.

The cold halls of the regal dead, Where lone the Italian sunbeams dwell. Where hollow sounds the lightest tread
Ivy
'.

they know thee well And far above the festal vine Thou wav'st where once proud banners hung. Where mouldering turrets crest the Rhine, The Khine, still fresh and young Tower and rampart o'er the Khine,
I I

Ivy

all are

thine

High from the

fields

of air look

down

Those eyries of a vanished race^ Where harp, and battle, and renown Have passed and left no trace. But thou art there serenely bright, Meeting the mountain storms with bloom.
!

Thou that wilt climb the loftiest Or crown the lowliest tomb.
Ivy, Ivy
!

height,

all

are thine

Palace, hearth^
*Tis still the

and shrine

same; our pilgrim tread O'er classic plains, through deserts free. On the mute path of ages fled. Still meets decay and thee*
still let

And

man

his fabrics rear,

'

A ugust in beauty, stern in power, -Days pass thou Ivy never sere
' ;

And thou

shalt have thy dower.

All are thine, or must bo thine -^ Temple, pillar, shrine "

!

MEADOW SAFFRON

{Colchicum autumnalis).
are past.

My

best days

The' ancients believed that this plant, from the

of Colchis,

fields

owed

its

origin to

some drops of the magic

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWBHS.

liquor whicli

69

Medea prepared
it

to

make

old ^Eson young.

This caused
all

to be regarded as a preservative against It is stiU

sorts of maladies.

used in gout and rheumauntil

tism.

The seed does not ripen

the

following

spring.

The melancholy nymph weaves

pale violet
flowers,

herself a crown
it

of

its

and

consecrates

to

the

happy days which have

fled to return

no more.

FOUR O'CLOCK,

or

MARVEL OF PERU
Timidity.

(ilirahilis

Jalapa).

This plant, known also as jalap, princess's

helle-de-nuit, is a native

leaf,

and
its

of the Malay Isles, and in

It

own

climate

is

an elegant shrub.

opens

its

timid

bells at four in the afternoon, closing

them again

at four

in the

morning.
cannot refrain from transcribing here the
:

We

fol-

lowing graceful lines of Constant Dubos

'*

Solitaire

amante des nuits, Pourquoi ces timides alarmes, Quand ma muse au jour que tu fuis S'apprete k reveler tes charmes.' Si, par pudeur, aux indiscrets

Tu

En nous

caches ta fleur purpurine. derobant tes attraits, Permets encore qu'on les devine.

Lorsque I'aube vient reveiller Les brillantes fllles de Flore,

Seule tu scmbles sommeiller, Et craindre I'iclat de I'aurore. Quand I'ombre efface leurs coulcurs,

Tu
Et de

Tu

reprends alors ta parure, I'absenee de tes sceurs, viens consoler la nature.

70

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Sous
le Toile

raystdrienx

Be In craintxve modestie Tu veux (ichapper a nos yeux,

On

Et tu n'en es que plus jolie; cherche, on aime k decouvrir, Le doux plaisir que tu recfeles; Ah pour encove les embcllir, Donne ton secret a nos belles."
!

FRAGRANT COLTSFOOT
shall

{Tussilago fragrans).

Jttstiee

be done you.

Grenius, concealed
strike

under a modest exterior, does not

the

vulgar.

But
it,

if

the

eye of a discriminatit

ing judge

meets

immediately

obtains the accla-

mations of those whose stupid indiflFerence could not

comprehend

it.

Plants have the same, fate

as

men,

and often require a patron to be

fragrant coltsfoot, in spite of
its

appreciated.

The

sweet odor, lived a long

it

time unknown at the foot of Mount Pila, where

would

doubtless flourish ignored to this day, if a learned botanist,

M.

Villau, of Grenoble,
it

had not appreciated

its

merits,
is

and given

a prominent place in his works.

it

It

very welcome in the drawing-room, as

comes

at a

season when other flowers are scarce.

SCARLET GERANIUM
Mme. de
intellect

{Pelargonium in(iuirmm).

SiUiness.

Stael

was always angry when a man of no

circle.

was introduced into her

One

day, howoflScer,

ever, a friend risked presenting a

young Swiss

of most amiable appearance.

Deceived by appearances,

the lady grew animated, and said a thousand flattering

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

things to the new-comer,
surprise

71

who seemed

at first

mute with

and admiration.

At

last, after

he had listened

nearly an hour without opening his mouth, she began to

mistrust his silence, and asked

him some questions

But, alas
Stael,
!

so

direct that he was forced to reply.

he gave

only the sUliest answers.

Mme. de

angry at hav-

ing thrown away her trouble and her wit, turned to her
friend and said, " Truly,
sir,

you resemble

my

gardener,

who thought

to please

me
;

this

morning by bringing me

a pot of scarlet geranium

but I sent him away, begging

again."

him never

to let

me

see

it

"

Why

so

" asked

the young man, confounded.

" Because,
is finely

sir,

since

you
;

wish to know, this geranium

long as you only look at

dressed in .red
;

so

it, it

is

pleasing

but the mo-

ment you press

odor."

it

slightly, it gives

out only a disagreeable

Saying these words, she rose and went out,

leaving the young

man

with cheeks as red as his coat, or

the flower to which he had been compared.

CYPRESS
'*

{Cupresms).

Mourning.

Peace to the dust that in silence reposes Beneath the darlc shades of the cypress and yew."
Pierpont.

* And the wild cypress wave

in tender

gloom."
Byron.

''

The nodding cypress formed

a fragrant shade."

Pope.

" In cypress chests

my

arras connterpanes."

Shah^eare.

72

THE LANGUAOE OP FLOWERr,

The cypress
is

tall,

straight, evergreen tree, of

Its
it

fragrant smell

the

leaves bitter.

wood

is

almost

imperishable.

The Romans devoted

it

to funereal uses,

and the Orientals plant

tells

in their cemeteries.

Spenser

us that in

the garden of Proserpina

grew

" There mournful! cyprcsse

in greatest store."

**Ss

''^'^^^

NOVEMBER.

OAK
'

{Quercui).

Hospitality.

The

builder oake, sole king of forrests all."

^Spenser.

HE

ancients believed

that

the

oak, born with the earth, gave

shelter
first

and sustenance
This
tree,

to

the

men.

conse-

crated to
cradle
in

Jupiter, shaded his

Arcadia.

The

civic

crown of oak leaves appeared

to

the

Romans

the

most desirable of rewards.

oracles
;

In

Epirus, the

oaks of Dodona gave

those of

Gaul covered the mysteries of the Druids.

of
all

An

account
fill

the celebrated oak trees in history would

volume.

Tennyson has sung the " Talking Oak," and

7
(73)

74
Millevoye
wrote,

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEJiS.

"

La

feuille

de chene."

Bryant eloquentlj

By whose immovable stem

In

"This mighty oak I stand, and seem

Almost annihilated not a prince all the proud old world beyond the deep Ere wore his crown as loftily as he Wears the green coronal of leaves with which Thy hand has graced him."

AMARANTH
" Sad Amaranthus,

(Amaranthits).

Immortality.

made a tlowre but late, Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore Me seemes I see Amintas' wretched fate, To whom sweet poets' verso hath given endless date."
is

The amarantt The

ancients

one of the
it

last gifts

of

Autumn.

associated
it

with supreme honors, and

of

adorned with

the foreheads
at

the

gods.

In the

" Jeux Floraux,"

lyric

Toulouse, the prize for the best

It has, for
;

was a golden amaranth.

some reason
in

or other, been a favorite of the poets

and Milton,

Book

III. of his great

poem, pays
down they

it

this

homage

" To the ground,

With solemn
Tlicir

adoration,

cast

crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold, Immortal amaranth, a flower which once

In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, Began to bloom; but soon, for man's ofTence, To Heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows

And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life. And where the river of bliss, through midst
Bolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream, Witli these, that never fade, the 'spirits elect

of Heaven,

Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams."

And

again in Lycidas,

all his

"Bid Amaranthus

beauty shed."

PUEUSHED BYDE VRIES

IRAT;RA

-t^^BCSTON.

THE LAXGUAGE OF FLOWEIiS.

There are many species of amaranth.
called

75
is

That which
is

coxcomb

(a
is

corruption of cock's comb)

very

handsome, and

said to

grow

to a great size in Japan.

Another variety
In Campbell's

is

popularly

(sailed

Love-lies-bleeding.

poem

of " O'Connor's Child," he

makes

the heroine say,

'

This purple flower my tears have nursed hero's blood supplied its bloom I love it, for it was the first

That grew on Connocht Moran's tomb."

*
**

*
I

change my buried love For any heart of living mould. No, for 1 am a hero's child I'll hunt my quarry on the wild, And still my home this mansion make. Of all unheeded and unheeding.

Kor would

And

cherish, for

my

warrior's sake.

The flower of

love-lies-bleeding."

PARSLEY

(^Apium petroselinum).

Festivity.

Parsley was in great repute among the Greeks.

At

banquets they crowned themselves with

it,

to

excite

gayety and appetite.

received for prize

In the

Nemean games
It

the victor

a wreath of parsley.

was sup-

posed

to

be a native of Sardinia, because on old medals

that province was represented

is

by a woman
is

at

whose side
cool,

a vase of parsley

but

it

found in

shady

places throughout the south of Europe.

The

beautiful

verdure of this plant heightens the elegance of the dishes

it

adorns.

76

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

(Cormis mascula).

CORNELIAN CHERRY
This tree rises

Continuance.

only to

the height of

eighteen or

twenty
ries.
its

feet,

but

is

slow of growth, and lives for centu-

It

blossoms in Spring, and in

red
fruit.

Autumn produces
it

brilliant

The Greeks consecrated

to

Apollo, doubtless because this god presided over intellectual labors,

which demand much time and

reflection.

This tree

is

the

emblem of patience

to all those

who

would win the laurel crown for poetry or eloquence.

A HEAP

OF FLOWERS. We
and
fruit

will die together.

air,

pile of flowers
it

decomposes the

and
in-

renders

unfit for respiration.

This sad property

spired the
little

German poet

Freiligrath to write a striking

piece called "

The Vengeance

of the Flowers."

Jn

j.snv.

WINTER.
DECEMBER.
SERVICl

TRE

(Pyrus domesticd).

Prudence.

;>

ACH
of

plant and tree has a character

its

own.

The giddy almond

hastens to give her flowers to the

Spring
fruit

at the risk

of having no

for

the

Autumn, while the

which grows slowly,
fruit

service

tree,

only 7 *

bears

when

it
(77)

has

78
attained
tain.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

its full

strength

but then the harvest

is

cer-

This

is

why

it

is

called the type of prudence.

it

Handsome and
all

durable,

keeps

its

bright red berries

winter

a food provided in the midst of the snow

for the little birds.

MISTLETOE

(^Viseum verticillatum).

surmount everything.
to us

The following legend has come down

days of the Druids.

from the

The god Balder having dreamed

Frigga, conjured
fire,

that he should die, his mother,

metals, maladies, water, animals, serpents, and plants,

not to harm her son, and her conjurations were of such

power that nothing could

Balder, wished to

resist.

Loke, the enemy of

know

the cause of his invulnerability,

and disguising himself under the form of an old woman,

went

to

ask Frigga.

He

learned that everything in

little

nature was sworn not to hurt Balder, except one

plant, which

seemed too
its

insignificant to
It

harm, having not

even a root of

own.

was the mistletoe.

Loke

immediately ran to find some, and, coming where the

gods were fighting

asks the blind Heder,

against

the

invulnerable

Balder,

"

Why

dost not thou, too, throw

blind,"

arrows

at

Balder?"

"I am
is

replied Heder,
mistletoe to

" and have no arms."

him, and said, " Balder

Loke presented the

before thee."

It is thrown,

and Balder
a goddess

falls lifeless.

Thus the invulnerable son

of
a

is

slain

by a branch of mistletoe thrown by

blind enemy.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

The mistletoe
is

79

little

evergreen
;

shrub, growing

on the tops of the

tallest trees
it

even the proud oak

becomes
It

its

slave,

and feeds

with his

own

substance.

was regarded as peculiarly sacred by the Druids.

is it

Every one
nected with

familiar with

the English customs con-

as a Christmas decoration.

" Bright-headed as the merry May dawn She floated down the dance; I thought some angel must have gone

Our human way by

I held

chance.

my

hands and caught

I'll

my
I

bliss

Children,

show you how

And

earth touched heaven in a kiss

Under the mistletoe bough."

MOSS

(jCryptogamid).

Maternal love.

Like those friends repulsed neither by misfortune

nor ingratitude, the mosses, banished from cultivated
fields,

advance towards dry, uncultivated lands, to cover

their

them with

own

substance, which
soil.

is

by degrees

changed into

fertile

They extend over marshes,

and soon transform them into useful meadows.

form, in the forest
shade,

They

a turfy carpet, where the

to

shepherd,

the

lover,

and the poet love

repose.

Without these

plants, so little regarded

by

us, a part

of the globe would be uninhabitable.

families cover with

In Lapland, the

moss the subterranean huts, where

Their numerous herds

they brave the longest winters.

of reindeer

know no

other food, yet they supply their

milk, eatable
flesh,

masters with delicious

furs.

and warm

80

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEnS.

LAURESTINE
This
pretty
to us

(Viburnum

tinus).

I die if neglected.

shrub,

improperly

called

laurustinus,

comes

from Spain, and

is brilliant

with verdure

and flowers when other plants are stripped of them.

It
it

always requires assiduous attention, which, however,

well repays.

JANUARY.

LAUREL
" Yield

(^Laurns nobilis).

Glory.

me

one leaf of Daphne's deathless plant." Byron.

HE
the

laurel or

bay tree has been

symbol of glory and vicevery age and

people.

tory in

among
lovely
river
;

every

The

Daphne, daughter of the

Peneus, was loved by Apollo

but she fled from his profi'ered

caresses.

He

pursued her, and

as
aid,

he began to gain on her, she invoked her father's

and was changed

into the laurel.

Apollo crowned
it

his head with the

leaves,
to

and ordered that

It

should
great

be

esteemed sacred

him.

grows
its

in

profusion on the banks of the Peneus, and

aromatic

(81)

82

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEBS.

rise

evergreen branches
tallest trees.

there

to

the

height

of the

The property of
it.

resisting lightning

was

anciently

ascribed to

The

Flora

Domestica

says,

" The

bay or

laurel

was in great esteem with physicians.

The

statue of

-i^sculapius, in allusion, perhaps, to his father, Apollo,

was adorned with

its

leaves.

From

the custom which

prevailed in some places of crowning the young doctors in physic with this laurel in berry,

the

students

were called haccalaureats, or bachelors."

Every poet has sung the

trarch,

laurel.

Byron

said of Pe-

the
laurel

" Watering the tree which bore his lady's name With his melodious tears, he gave himself to fame."

Though
querors,''
" Short

be the

" meede of mighty con-

Oglevie bids us remember that

IS

Ambition's gay, deceitful dream;

Though wreaths of blooming laurel bind her brow, Calm thought dispels the visionary scheme,

And

Time's cold breath dissolves the withering bough."

is

This classic tree

not

native

of our

country

but we have the beautiful kalmia, or American sheep

laurel,

which can challenge comparison with any shrub

of Europe.

HOLLY

(7fex).

Forethought.

" Boldest of plants that ever faced the wind."

JVordsworth.

The

holly brings to

mind

delightful scenes of ChristIts

mas

festivities

and family joys.

curiously

cut,

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS,

shining leaves,

83
berries,

and rich

clusters

of

scarlet

make

it

an unequalled ornament for church, palace,

or cottage.
are the

Among
:

the best lines Southej ever wrote

following

THE HOLLY TREE.

*'

reader, hast thou ever stood to see The holly tree r

The eye

that contemplates

it

well perceives

Its glossy leaves

Ordered by an intelligence bo wise. As might confound the atheist^s sophistries.

Below, a circling fence, its leaves are seen Wrinkled and keen; No grazing cattle through their prickly round

Can reach to wound; But as they grow where nothing is to fear, Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear.
I love to view these things with curious eyes, And moralize;

And

wisdom of the holly tree Can emblems see Wherewith perchance to make a pleasant rhyme One which may profit in the after-time.
in this

Thus, though abroad perchance I might appear Harsh and austere. To those who on my leisure would mtrude Reserved and rude, Gentle at home amid my friends I'd be, Like the high leaves upon the holly tree.

And- should

my

youth, as youth

Is apt, I

know,

Some harshness show,

All vain asperities I day by day

Would wear away,

smooth temper of my age should be Like the high leaves upon the holly tree.
Till the

; ;

84

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

And, ae when all the summer trees are seen So bright and green,

The

holly leaves their fadeless hues display

Less bright than they; But when the bare and wintry woods we see. What then so cheerful as the holly tree?

So serious should

my

youth appear among

The thoughtless throng, So would I seem amid the young and gay More grave than they,
That in

As

my age as cheerful I might be the green winter of the holly tree."

ALOE
The
it

{Aloe).

Grief.

Bitterness.

aloe
to

holds to the

soil

only by
;

weak
taste

roots
is

loves

grow

in

the

desert

its

very

bitter.

Thus

grief

withdraws

us

from the

world,

detaches us
bitterness.

from the earth, and

fills

our hearts with

air,

These plants
grotesque

live

almost entirely on
forms.

and

affect

and wonderful

Mexico

and the sands of Africa are their native climes.

AGNUS CASTUS.

Coldness.

Life without love.

Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galienus inform us that the

priestesses

of Ceres

formed

their

virginal

couch of
itself

the fragrant branches of this shrub, which covers

with long tufts

of white
as

or

violet

flowers,

and

that

they regarded

it

the

palladium of their chastity.

distilled

Nuns used

to

drink

a water

from

it,

to

banish terrestrial

thoughts
of

from

their

solitary cells

and several

Orders

monks wore a

knife

whose

8.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

handle was
as a sure

made

of the

wood

of the

agnus castus

means of rendering

their

hearts insensible

In Dryden's version of the Flower and the Leaf,

" "Wreaths of agnus caRtus others bore These last, who with those virgin crowns were dressed, Appeared in higher honor than the rest."

And

their

queen carried a branch of

it

for a sceptre

FEBRUARY.

SNOWDROP

{Galanfhus nivalis).
in adversity.

Consolation.

A firieud

" lione flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they." Wordsworth.
*

" Thou timid snowdrop, raise thy lovely head." artcm.

DELICATE blossom Suddenly appears

breaking through the

snowy

Teil

which covers the earth, and shows

to our

wondering eyes

its

pure cups,

tipped with green, as if

Hope had
Expand-

marked them

for her own.

ing amid wintry scenes, this lovely

flower seems to smile at
all

the rigors of the season,

(86)

! !

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

and says, " I come
to

87

console you, and whisper the

return of the long, bright, sunny days."

*'

Already

The

As Had changed an
Nature

the Bnowdrop dares appear, pale blossom of the unripened year; Flora's breath, by some transforming power.
first

now

icicle into

a flower."

Mrs. Barbauld.
*'

deep and mystic woi^d Mighty mother, still unknown Thou didst sure the snowdrop gird With an armor all thine own.

Thou, who sent'st it forth alone To the cold and sullen season (Like a thought at random thrown). Sent it thus for some grave reason,"

Barry Cornwall.

JUNIPER

(Juniperus communis).

Asylum.

Aid.

This tree was anciently consecrated to the Eumenides

the smoke of
its

green branches was the incense which

offer to the infernal deities.

was most preferred to

The

berries were burned at funerals to keep off witchcraft.

In Holland they are extensively used

now

to flavor gin.

The Chinese and

the English like to adorn their gardens

with this wild tree, which accustoms itself with difficulty

to cultivation.

Free,

it

loves to

grow on the edge of

the

forest

weak and timid creatures often seek an

its

asylum under

long, low boughs.

its

The hunted hare

crouches there, as

strong odor sets the dogs at fault

it,

the thrush often confides her family to

its

and fattens on
its

berries

while the entomologist

studies around

prickly branches a thousand brilliant insects, which have

88

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

this tree ia

no other defence, and seem to guess that

destined to protect them.

YEW
The Greeks,
tree,

{Taxus baccata).

Sadness.

affected, like us,

by the sad aspect of

this

imagined that the unhappy Smilax, who saw her

love despised

by the young Crocus, was imprisoned

Its black,

in

the bark of a yew.

gloomy

foliage,

and ugly
it.

form, seem to warn us against reposing under

said that its juice is poisonous to horses

It is

and

asses,

and

that if one sleeps under a

yew

tree, the

head grows

heavy, and suffers violent pain.

see
it

Our

ancestors liked to
for bows,

in their cemeteries.

Its

wood was used

lances,

and cross-bows.

In Dutch gardens one

may

still

see yews clipped into fantastic forms, which recall the

masterpieces of

Le Notre and La

Quintinie.

FIELD DAISY
'

{Bellis perennis).

I will think of

it.

Si douce est la marguerite."

Chaucer asserts that Alceste, a

ficed her

fair

queen, who sacri-

own

life

to preserve her husband's,

was trans-

formed into a
daisy
?

daisy.

What

poet has not written of the

But one stands preeminent.

Few

will disagree

with Mr.
as

Thomas

Miller, that the daisy ought to be

known
it.

" Chaucer's flower."

" Love

He

all

but worshipped

I most these floures white and rede, Sueh that were eallen Daisies in our town;

"

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

So hence I have so great
affection,

89

sayd erst, when comen is the Maie, That in my bedde there daweth me no daie That I am up and walking- in the mede. To see this flower against the sunne sprede;

As

When it up riseth eftrly by the morrow, That blissful sight softeneth all my sorrow. So glad am I that when I have presence Of it to done it alle reverence,
As
she that
is

of

all floures

the fioure,

and honoure, And ever ylike faire and fresh of hewe, And ever I love it, and ever ylike newe. And shall till that mine herte die."
Fulfilled of all vertue

In the times of chivalry, when a lady neither accepted

nor rejected a wooer's

of of

suit,

she expressed, by a wreath

single white daisies,

it."

the sentiment,

" I will think

The band of flutes began to play, a lady sung a virelay And still at every close she would repeat The burden of the song, The Daisy is so sweet. The Daisy is so sweet when she begun, The troths of knightH and dames continued on The concert, and the voice so charmed my ear And soothed my soul, that it was heaven to hear.'^
*'

To which

Dryden from^
*'

Chaucer.

The

daisie scattered on each meade and downe, golden tuft within a silver croune; Fayre fall that dainty floure and may there be No shepherd graced, that doth not honor thee

W. Browne.

The

daisy (or

day^s eye)

is

the

gowan of Burns

and the other Scotch bards.

a Mountain Daisy "
are

The

beautiful " Lines to

so well

known and

so often

quoted, that

we forbear

to give them.

few stanzas
find

from a poem by Wordsworth in praise of the daisy

their place here.

8*

90
"

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

When Winter
Thee
decks his few gray hairs, wreath he wears;
airs,

in the scanty

Spring parts the clouds with softest That she may sun thee;

Whole summer
Doth

fields are thine

by right;

And Autumn, melancholy wight

in thy crimson

head delight
thee.

When

rains are

on

In shoals and bands, a morrice

train,

Thou

greet'st the traveller in the lane;

it

If welcome once thou count'st Thou art not daunted,

gain;

Nor

car'st if

And

oft alone, in

thou be set at nought. nooks remote,

like

We

meet thee

When

suteh are

a pleasant thought, wanted.

Be violets in their secret mews The flowers the wanton zephyrs choose; Proud be the rose, with rains and dew Her head impearling; Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim,
Yet hast not gone without thy fame;

Thou art indeed, by many The poet's darling.

*
*

a claim. *

smitten by the mornmg ray, I see thee rise, alert and gay. Then, cheerful flower my spirits play With kindred gladness; And when at dusk, by dews oppressed.

When,

Thou sink'st, the image of thy rest Hath often eased my pensive breast Of careful sadness."

DOUBLE GARDEN DAISY.

When
affection

I share your feelings.

the lady of a knight allowed

him

to engrave
his

this flower

on

his arms, it

was a public avowal that

was returned.
is

If left too long in one spot, the garden daisy

apt

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

to degenerate.

91

The

roots should be taken

up

in the

autumn and divided.

" Star of the mead, sweet daughter of the day, Whose opening flower invites the morning ray From thy moist cheek, and boBom^s chilly fold, To kiss the tears of eve, the dew-drops cold Sweet daisy, flower of love when birds are paired, 'Tis sweet to see thee, with thy bosom bared, Smiling in virgin innocence serene, Thy pearly crown above thy vest of green. The lark, with sparkling eye and rustling wing, Rejoins his widowed mate in early spring, And as he prunes his plumes of russet hue,
!

Swears on thy maiden blossom to be true.

*

Oft have 1 watched thy closing buds at eve, Which for the parting sunbeams seemed to grieve. And, when gay morning gilt the dew-bright plain. Seen them unclasp their folded leaves again. Nor he who sung, The daisy is so sweet,' More dearly loved thy pearly form to greet. When on his scarf the knight the daisy bound, And dames at tourneys shone with daisies crowned. And fays forsook the purer flelds above. To hail the daisy, flower of faithful love." Leyden.
*

The following

beautiful tribute is

by Montgomery

THE DAISY.
" There
is

a flower, a

little

flower.

and golden eye. That welcomes every changing hour. And weathers every sky.
silver crest

With

The prouder

beauties of the field

In gay but quick succession shine; Kace after race their honors yield; They flourish and decline.

But this small flower, to nature dear, While moons and stars their courses run, Wreathes the whole circle of the year. Companion of the sun.

92

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

upon the lap of May, August spreads its charms, Lights pale October on its way,
It smiles

To

sultry

And

twines December's arms.

The purple heath and golden broom On moory mountains catch the gale;
O'er lawns the lily sheds perfume; The violet in the vale.

But this bold floweret climbs the hill, Hides in the forest, haunts the glen, Plays on the margin of the rill, Peeps round the fox's den. Within the garden's cultured round
It shares the

sweet carnation's bed.

consecrated ground

And blooms on

In honor of the dead.

The lambkin crops Its crimson gem. The wild bee murmurs on its breast. The blue-fly bends its pensile stem,
Light o'er the skylark's nest.
'

'Tis Flora's

page

In every place.

In every season, fresh and fair, It opens With perennial grace, And blossoms everywhere.

On waste and woodland,

Its

rock and plain.

rise;

humble buds unheeded

Tlie rose has but a

summer

reign.

The daisy never

dies."

VIOLET
Ovid
the
tells

{Viola).

Modesty.
oflFerings at

us that yiolets were strewn as

Roman

feast of the Feralia, kept for their dead.

" The violet in her greenwood bower, Where birchen boughs with hazels mingle.

May

boast itself the fairest flower

Scott.

In glen, or copse, or forest dingle."

PUBUSHED BYDE VRres

iHAfiRA i^tt<-;'_'bqst0N


THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
" There are no flowers grow in the vale, Kissed by the dew, wooed by the gale, None by the dew of the twilight wet. So sweet as the deep-blue violet." Landon.

93

Fairest and sweetest of flowers

What more

praise

can be given

If

some

invisible

power should sud-

denly sweep away from the earth every tuft of violets,

could any flower, of garden,
field,

or

copse,

replace

them

Ah, no

the very soul of Spring would have

passed away with them.

There
peculiar

is

no fragrance like that of the

violet.

freshness

and

purity

make

it

stand

alone

among
felt it

all

the odors of the floral kingdom.

Shakspeare

when he wrote

of
"violets dim.
lids

But sweeter than the

of Juno's eyea

Or Cytherea's breath."

The Duke
*'

in Twelfth

Night commands,
it

That strain again;

O,
it

had a dying

fall;

came

o'er

my

ear like the sweet south.

violets,

That breathes upon a bank of Stealing and giving odor."

And

at Ophelia's

grave Laertes
"

cries,

Lay her

And from her fair and May violets spring."

i' the earth. unpolluted flesh

Barry Cornwall
The sun
is

says,

kissing

.'

" Dost see yon bank Near go near for there

('Neath those broad leaves, amidst yon straggling grasses) Immaculate odors from the violet Spring up forever Like sweet thoughts that come
!

94

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Winged from the maiden
fancy,

and

fly

ofl"

In music to the skies, and there are lost, These ever-steaming odors seek the sun,

And

fade In the hght he scatters."

We

close in the grateful

words of Langhorne
" That lavish hand

Which

scatters violets under every thorn.

Forbids that sweets like these should be confined Within the limits of the rich man's wall."

AEDON,

fair reader,
it

if

we weary
here to
of the cel-

you

but

seems

fitting

give a brief account

ebrated Floral G-ames of Toulouse.

The south

of France
all

was,

per-

haps, the cradle of

our modern

poetry

for

while

the

language

of the surrounding nations was scarcely

formed, the
ele-

Proven5al was already a copious, expressive, and

gant tongue.

The

love

for

polite

literature

made

such progress in Toulouse

during

the

reign of the
calls

house of Raymond, that one of the old writers

it

" the flower and rose of

all cities."

The
scurity
;

origin

of the

Troubadours goes back to obthat through

d' Amour,

but we

know

the

middle ages

poetical courts, called

Buys

were of frequent
(95)

96
occurrence.
Celtic root,

THE LANQVAGE OF FLOWERS.

The word
and
jjuy

comes from
It

a'

supposed

signifies tribunal.

was one of these

courts which was

established at Toulouse jn 1324, by

a company of seven Troubadours.

court
of
the

They

called

it

the

Gai Saber, and poets from Provence,

invited
to
fine

Languedoc, and Catalonia were

for

compete
gold."

the

prize,

which was a violet " of

The
a

court assembled annually in a garden, and under

spreading

elm made their award.

This gave such

an impetus to the "joyous science," that, in 1388, King

John, of Arragon, sent an embassy to Charles VI.,

asking for French Troubadours to establish academies
of the

Gai Saber

in his dominions.

But, in the
stances
ture

next century, wars, and other circumquiet

unfavorable to the

pursuits

of

litera-

and the peaceful pleasures of the garden, caused

such a decline in the spirit of the age, that this pretty

custom

fell

into disuse.

Then, when a night of igno-

rance and mental indolence seemed settling down upon

these
steps
fair

southern

fields,

Clemence Isaure suddenly

upon the

scene,

and rescues her native land

from the demoralizing influence of material force by

encouraging once

more the

cultivation

of eloquence

and

belles-lettres.
illustrious

This famous lady was of an ancient and

Toulousan family.
sessed
all

She

is

represented to have pos-

graces, both of

mind and person, and

to

have encouraged in every way the revival of

letters.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

She caused the Jeux Floraux
to be celebrated

97
again

each year, with renewed splendor, and with her own

hand bestowed a golden

of her

eglantine

on a competitor

own

sex, Antoinette in
spite

ViUeneuve.

Clemence,

of
died,

the

most

brilliant
fifty,

offers,

never married.
beginning of the
left

She

aged about
century,

at

the

sixteenth

and by her wiU

city, to

nearly

all

her property to her native

be

applied to the encouragement of intellectual develop-

ment.
the

She ordained three golden flowers as prizes

eglantine,

violet, the

and the marigold.

As

the

old romance prettUy says,

*'

Eglantine est la fleur que j'aime.

La vlolette est ma couleur; Dans le souci tu vois I'emblSme Des chag^rins de mon triste coeur."

This Festival of Flowers, as

still,

it

is

called,
;

survives

four hundred years after

its

foundation

though

the contests of the present day are in

modern French,

which scarcely equals, for poetical purposes, the more

flexible

and impassioned Proven9al.

It is

celebrated
a

on the third of May.

The ceremonies begin with

after

eulogy of Clemence Isaure,

sioners go
in
altar

which the commisprize flowers

pomp
of

to

take

the

from
la

the

high

the

church of

Our

Lady de

Daurade, where Isaure was interred.

Meantime the

Secretary reports on the pieces offered by the concurrents,

and on

the return
9

of

the

commissioners the

98
prizes

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

are awarded.
to

Formerly

it

was the custom

to

for

the victors

go in procession
shower
of
roses

the church,

and
of

cover with

the marble tomb

Clemence, in compliance with a request in her

will.

The

statue

which adorned this tomb was removed

its

to

the town hall in 1557, and a few years later

coro-

nation with roses was substituted for the strewing on

the grave, the
religious authorities

objecting

to

that

as a relic of pagan rites.

Four flowers have

been added to
;

the

first

three,

since the time of Isaure

and the amaranth now usurps

sohrana or soverpresent day are as

the place

of the violet as the flor

eign flower.
follows
:

The

prizes

at

the

poem, or
epistle

A A A A A A
A

golden amaranth for the best ode. golden eglantine for the best piece of prose.
silver violet for the best heroic

in verse.
silver

marigold for an

eclogue,

idyl,

elegy,

or

ballad.
silver

primrose for the best fable or apologue.

a sonnet or

silver lily for

hymn

in

honor of the

Virgin Mary.
silver

pink

is

given as a prize of encouragement

under either head.

Ie must say a few words, too,

about the celebrated Garland

of JuHa.

Madame

de Genlis

informs us that the Guirlande

de Julie was a piece of gallantry imagined by
tere

the ausfor

Due de Montausier,

the beautiful Julie

de KambouiEet.
it

After her hand

was promised him,

to

became

his duty, in conformity

an old custom, to send his future bride a bouquet

every day until the wedding.

here.
folio

But he did not

stop

He

caused to be painted on vellum, in a large

artists,

volume, by the best

;

the

most beautiful

flowers cultivated

and the most distinguished poets

of the time wrote verses on each flower.

The volume,
(99)

100

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

magnificently bound, was placed upon the bride's dress-

ing table on the wedding day.

This interesting monu-

ment of the

delicate gallantry of the seventeenth cen-

tury passed into foreign hands during the Revolution,

and in 1795 was

is

at

Hamburg.

Its

present possessor

unknown.

DIRECTIONS
IN

THE USE OF FLOWERS.

BEE

follows a brief

summary of

directions for the use of the floral

language.

Any noun
verb
or

can be changed to a

adjective

when
is

necessary.

The present
holding
heart; the past, by presenting
it it

tense
flower

expressed

by

the

as high as the

with the arm towards the

as high as the eyes.

ground
are

the future, by raising

There
first,

three

persons

first,

second, and third.

For

the

present the flower horizontally, with the right hand.

For

(101)

102

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

same hand, but held
left

the second, with the

the third, present
it

to the

left.

For

with the

hand.

Two

flowers indicate

the plural

a flower upside down, negation.

There are some amusing examples of the application of this language in winter,
in

when
as for

flowers are scarce,

" Les
:

Fleurs Animees

"

instance

in

this

note
"

has no crown imperial on bittersweet myrtle.

I

Wormwood

You know

have a serpent cactus of whortleberry.

Musk
all

plant upside

down

Liverwort,

we

are

cistus.

Banish

mangolds, and pansy only of the sweet sultan of our pim])ernel.

Myrtle as high
eyes forever."

r.s

the heart, and

myrtle as high as the

Jacobus.

Translated

it

reads,

love.
!

Absence has no power on true

a horror
secure.

You know
Confidence,

have
are

of treachery.

No

weakness

we

Banish

all griefs,

and think only of the happiness of

our meeting.
I love you, and shall love you forever.

Jacobus.

The colored

plate gives an idea of the arrangement

It is a translation of

of a floral sentence.

some

verses

by the Chevalier Parny.

'Fairies use flowers for their cliaractery."

are.

'

The tongue that

erst

was spoken by the

elves,

When

tenderness as yet within the world was new."

Hoffman.

" Souvent, d'une amante offens^e,

Quelques fleurs calment

Souvent, du
fils

le

courroux;

de Cyth^ree,

Flore sert a cacher les coups."

Old French Poet.

(104).

DICTIONARY

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

Abruptuess, Borage.
Atysence, Wormwood,

Acconuno dating

disposition, Valerian,
(105)

106
Activity, Thyme.

DICTIOXABY OF THE
See p. 34.

fi*ieud in adversity, Snowdrop.

See p.

86.

Alterthouglit, Large-Jlowered Aster.

The large-flowered become

scarce.
It

aster begins to

bloom -when other flowers

is,

as

it

were, the afterthought of Flora,

who

smiles while leaving us.

Agitation, Rhododendron.

Honey made from

the flowers of the rhododendron was

anciently supposed to cause delirium,

and very probably some

Undoubtedly
this

of the species possess poisonous qualities.

is

the

most

brilliant of all

American shrubs.

The

less

showy

but beautiful azaleas belong to this family.

Always

clieerfnl, Coreopsis,

Always remembered, 'Everlasting.

Ambition,
Hollyhock.
48.

Amiability, Jasmine. See p.

Anger,

Gorse, or J!^rze.

The furze blossom resembles the broom, but the

very prickly.
It

plant

is

grows

in greater profusion in It is said that Linnaeus,

England than

in any other country.

it

when he saw
knees enraptried to raise

for the first

;

time, near

London,

fell

on

his

tured

and, carrying
in

some plants to Sweden,

Vu-gil

them

hot-house.

mentions

the furze.

Keats

speaks of
" downs, where sweet air stirs Blue liarebells lightly, and where prickly furze

Buds

lavish gold."
*'

Here the

furze,

Euriched among its spires with golden flowers. Scents the keen air."
CJiarlntte Smith,

LANGUAGE OF FLOWEBS.
Animosity,
St. JolirOs

107

Wort.

" Hypericum beneath each sheltering bush Its healing virtue modestly conceals." Dodsley.

Artifice, Clematis.

To

excite

commiseration, beggars

sometimes

produce on

themselves, by applying the juice of the clematis, factitious

sores.

This infamous
See p.

artifice

sometimes

results in real ulcers.

Arts, Acanthus.

25.

Asyluxn, Aid, Juniper.

See p.

87.

Audacity, Larch.
Austerity,
Thistle,

Beauty ever new,

Monthly Rose.

Be

my

support, Black Bryony.

Cinquefoil.

Beloved daughter,

Beneficence, Marshmallow.

Seep.

51,


108
Benevolence,

VICTIONAUY OF THE
Potato.
is

The reader
potato.

referred to

Humboldt

for the history of the

I., it

In England, in the reign of James

was consid-

ered a great delicacy, and provided only in very small quantities

for

the

queen's

household.

Bradley, an

extensive

writer

on horticultural subjects
says

at the beginning of the eigh-

teenth century,

of potatoes,

" They

are

of less
;

note

than

horseradish, radish, scorzonera, beets, and skirret

but

as they are not without their admirers, I will not pass in silence."
It

them by

was unknown

in

Saxony

as late as 1740, but

cultivated earlier in Switzerland.

Parmentier, by the most persevering labors, succeeded

in

introducing the cultivation of this useful vegetable into France,

in

the reign

of Louis XVI.

-It

had been known

in Italy

long before.
ISene'POlence, Hyacinth.

The poets

are not agreed whether the hyacinth sprung from

;

the blood of Ajax or that of Hyacinthus

so designate

but the flower they

was probably a kind of

lily,

and not our modern

hyacinth.

This, however, does not lack praise.

Hyacinths, with their graceful bells, Where the spirit of odor dwells. *'

Miss Landon.
'

The hyacinth, purple, white, and blue, Which flung from its hells a sweet peal anew Of music HO delicate, soft, and intense, It was felt lilje an odor within the sense."
SlieUey.

" Shaded hyacinth, alway Sapphire queen of the mid-May." Keats.

In the bower of Eve,

" hyacinth, with rich inlay, Broidered the ground, more colored than with stone

Of

costliest

emblem."

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
The

109

curling petals furnished Milton with a simile in de-

scribing

Adam.
" Hyacinthine locks

Round from
Clustering."

his parted forelock

manly hung

Collins, too, speaks of

" The youth whose locks divinely Bpreadiug Like vernal hyacinths.'*

The
wear

poetical

Hyacinth of the ancients was supposed to

" His bitter Borrows painted on his bosom."

"

As poets feigned, from Ajax* streaming blood Arose, with grief inscribed, a mournful flower.'*
"In the flower he weaved The sad impression of his sighs which bears Ai Ai displayed in funeral characters."

Sandys's Ovid.
' Camus, reverend

went footing slow. His mantle hairy, and his bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe."
sir,

Be^vare,

OleaTider.

Bu'th, Dittany of

Crete.

"When Juno, under the name of Lucina, presided

birth of children, she wore

at the

a wreath of dittany.

Its

good

odor and medicinal

qualities,
it

which caused
valued.

it

to he esteemed

by the
isle

ancients,

make

still'

It is a native of the

of Crete.
" Dittany of Crete has the
;

In Martyn's Botany we read,

small purple flowers collected in loose, nodding heads

stalks are pubescent, purplish,

the

and send out small branches

from their sides by pairs

the leaves are round, thick, and so

10

110

DICTIONARY OF THE
;

woolly as to be quite white

aromatic scent ^nd biting

the whole plant has a piercing,

taste.''

Woodville, in his Medical

says, "

Botany, gives a figure of

it,

and

Both

the

Greek and
;

Roman

writers have fabled this plant into great celebrity

of

which a single instance, related by the Latin poet, affords a

beautiful illustration."

See jEneid XII. 411-416.

84.

Bitterness, Aloe.

See p.
Tree,

Blackness, Ebony

Blemish, Henbane,
Boldness, Larch,

The larch
tains.

is

often found at a prodigious elevation on

moun-

Bonds

of love, Honeysuckle,

See p.

28.

Calmness, Huckbean,

See p.

21.

Calumny,

Madder,
Violet.

Candor, While

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Capricious Seanty, Mush
Rose,

Ill

This capricious rose will languish in situations which at

first

appeared most favorahle to

it.

One year

it

will

be

loaded with flowers, and the next

at all.

it

will refuse to

blossom

Cha^in, Marigold. See p.

Clian^e, Pimpernel.

56.

Always closing before

Cliastity, Orange Blossom.

rain, it denotes a

change of weather.

Coarseness, Grossuess, Fompion, or Pumpkin.

Coldness, Agnus

C'asfus.

See p,

84.

Compassion,

Elder.
is

The
their

elder

said to furnish quack doctors with

many
is

of

most successful remedies.

The great Boerhaave

said

to have held the medicinal qualities of the elder in such rever-

ence, that he
berries

would take
u.

off his

hat

when passing

it.

Elder

make

very excellent wine.

Conceit, Pomegranate.

pomegranate in Spanish
is

is

granada; and the kingdom

its

of Granada

said to have derived

name from the pome;

granate trees planted there by the Moors

which

is

quite
its

probable, from a cleft pomegranate being represented on

arms.

Confession of

lOT-e, Rosebud.

See p.

42.

Confldence, liverwort.

Conjugal love.

Linden, or Lime.

Seep.

33.

112

DICTIONARY OF THE
Corn Poppy-

Consolation, Snowdrop.

Cowley

says,

" Indulgent Cerea

knew my worth.

And

to adorn the teeming earth

She bade the poppy blow."

Constancy, Cmderbury
Coolness,
Lettuce.

Bell.

Coquetry, Morning

Glory.

See p.

62.

Courage, Blade

Poplar.

The

tree is consecrated to Hercules.

Nettle.

Cruelty,

The sting of the

nettle
is

causes a pain like a

similar to a bee's, as

bum.

The

mechanism of the sting

by looking
at a leaf

may

be seen

under the microscope.

Deceitful charms, Datnra.

See p.

68.

Declaration of love.

Tulip.

See p.

20.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Kejectiou,
Impiiie.

113

" Tristes lupini."

Virgil.

beautiful white lupine is found -wild in

North America.

All the species have rich, velvety leaves, and the variety of
color in their flowers is very great.

Delicacy,

Bluebottle.

Departure, Sweet Pea.

The dark sweet pea

of Ceylon.

is

a native of Sicily

and the

light,

" Here are sweet peas, on tiptoe for a flight, Witli \ving8 of gentle flush o'er delicate white.

And

taper fingers catcliing at

all

all

things.

To bind them
X>esertiou, Anemone

about with tiny rings."

Keais.

(Wiji4fiovjer).

Anemone was

nymph beloved by

Zephyr.

Flora, jealous,

banished her from her court, and metamorphosed her into a

flower which always expands before Spring has really returned.

Zephyr abandoned
of Boreas,

this

unhappy beauty
the

to the rough caresses

it,

who shakes
it.

blossom, rudely opens

and

soon destroys

Desire, Jonquil.

Thomson speaks

of

" Jonquils of potent fragrance."

And

Bidlake, ^^
" The jonquil loads with potent breath the And rich in golden glory nods."
air,

Prior, too,
'

The smelling tuberose and jonquil declare The stronger impulse of the evening air."

10*

114

DICTIONARY OF THE
the same family are Shakspeare's daffodils,
*'

Of

That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty."

Desire to please, Mtzereon.

^Devotion, Passion Flower.
]>iificiilties,

Black Thorn.

discretion, Maiden Hair.

Disdain, Bue.
" There's rue for you and here's some for me : we may call it herb of grace o* Sundays : you may wear your rue with a difference."
;

" Here did she drop a tear; here, in this place, I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace; Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen In the remembrance of a weeping queen." Shakspeare,

Before the Reformation, priests used to sprinkle the people

in

church with bunches of rue dipped in the holy water;

o'

hence the name of Herb of Grace

Disguise, TJtorn Apple.
Distinction, Cardinal Flower.

Sundays.

The

cardinal flower, or scarlet lobelia,

It

is

one of the most

into

splendid American flowers.

Britain in 1629,

was introduced
it,

Great

and Justice says of

"A

flower of most
in curious

handsome appearance, which should not be wanting

gardens, as
ness of
it

excels all other flowers I ever

color."

knew

in the rich-

its scarlet

Docility, Rush.

Do me

Justice, Chestnut.
ine, Saffron Crocus,

Do not abuse

Duration, Continuance,

Cornelian Cherry.

See

p. 76.

LA2^'GUAGE OF FLOWERS,

11.

Egotism, PoeVs
Elegance,
Elevation,

Narcissus.

See p.

32.

JRose Acacia.

Fir.
Lily.

Eloquence, Water
'

Brilliant thyself in store

of dazzling white,

Thy

sister plants

more gaudy robes unfold

This flames in purple; that, intensely bright Amid the illumined waters, burus hi gold.

To brave

Osiris' fiery

beam

is thine,

west his splendors fade; Thou, too, thy beauties and thy fire decline,
Till in the distant

With morn

to rise, in lovelier

charms arrayed.

Thus from Arabia, borne on golden wings. The phcenix on the sun's bright altar dies, But from his flaming bed refulgent springs. And cleaves with bolder plume the sapphire

skies."

T. Maurice.

The Egyptians consecrated

quence, and
it

the lotus to the

god of

elo

forms part of the head-dress of Osiris.

Th^

East Indian gods are often represented in the midst of watei

116

DICTIONARY OF THE
Perhaps
it

seated on a lotus flower.

may

be an emblem of

the world issuing from the deep.

In Moore's Lalla Rookh, we read of

" Those virgin lilies, all the night Bathing their beauties in the lake, That they may rise more fresh and bright

When

their beloved sun's awalce."

Camdeo, or Cama, the Indian Cupid, has

water
lily's

his nest

"in the

breast,"
is

and

floats

on

its

leaves.

The

true lotus

the red nymphsea of Hindustan.

Sir

The

blue lotus, according to

"William Jones, grows only in

lilies

Cashmere and Persia.

The rose-colored water

of Bengal

resemble our own white ones, except that they are of larger
size.

We

give Mr. Caldwell's translation of the pretty lyric of

Geibel, "

Die

stille

Wasser

rose."

"The

quiet water lily

Floats on the lakelet blue; Its soft leaves glow and glisten,
Its

cup of snowy hue.

The fair moon smileth on her, Through all the summer night, And on her fragrant bosom
Pours
all

her golden light.

Over the rippling water Glideth a snow-white swan; He Bingcth sweet and softly,

The

lily

gazing on.

He

singeth sweet and softly;

will his death-song flow;

Thus

snow-white flower, Dost thou its meaning know

flower,

"

ISuohitntnicut, Venain,

Sec p.

50.

LANO UA QE OF FL WERS.
Encouragement,
This flower, so
valued,
to Golden Rod.

117

common

in the

autumn, was anciently much

Gerarde says,
after alluding

and used in medicine.

it

the high price

brought

till

discovered growing near

'

London, " This

verifieth
is

our English proverbe,

Far
I

fetcht

and deere bought

best for the ladies.'

Thus much

have

spoken to bring these new-fangled fellowes back againe to

esteeme better of this admirable plant."

X^ndurance, Pine.

The pine
to bathe its

disdains the peaceful quiet of the garden

it

loves

head in the dew of the clouds, and

Stripped of
its

feel its foliit floats

age beaten by the winds.

branches,

on the ocean,

to brave the tempests there.

Energy in adversity,

Camomile.
on.
Its bitter

Camomile grows the more by being trampled

aromatic flowers are well

known
"

for their virtues.

He

the root

Of broad

angelica,

and tufted flower

Of creeping camomile, impregnates deep

Witli powers carminative."
Dodsley.

Envy,

Briers.

Error, Bee

Orchis.

This flower bears so striking a resemblance to a honey-bee,

as to frequently deceive.

Esteem,

Sage.
is

The sage
virtues.
brilliant

justly esteemed for

its

medicinal and culinary

species are exceedingly

The
and

flowers of

some of the

beautiful.

The

ancients have left us several proverbs showing their

118
appreciation

DICTIONARY OF THE
of
this

herb.

Among them we

find the

fol-

lowing

" Salvia

cum

ruta faolunt tibi pocula tuta."

" Salvia salvatrix, nature coneiliatrix." " Cur moriatur homo cui salvia crcscit in horto Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis."
.'

Faith, Passion Flower.

The

different species of the passion flower are natives of

South America.

The name was given by the

it,

missionaries
of our

who

first

discovered

as they

saw

in it the

emblems

Saviour's passion.
tl\e

The ten
;

petals

were supposed
;

to indicate

ten faithful apostles

the stamens, a glory

;

the purple

thread around the style, the crown of thorns

pillar of

the style, the

scourging

the tendrils, the cords

the leaves, the

;

hands

the three divisions of the style, the three nails

one

of the five stamens, a

hammer

the
its

other four, the cross.

The time of

three

days between

opening and

closing,


LAXaUAGE OF
completed the
fathers.
parallel,

FLOjrERS.

119
and pious

in the eyes of the simple

Falselkood, Bugloss. See

p. 26.

Falseness, Manchineel
Its fruit looks

Tree.
its

very good, and, by

its

agreeable odor, invites

one to taste

but

soft,
is

spongy

flesh contains

a milky, per-

fidious juice,

which

at first insipid, but soon

lips,

becomes

so

caustic as to
ellers
is

bum

the

the palate, and the tongue.

Trav-

say that the best remedy against a poison so violent, shores this tree always

the water of the sea, on whose

grows.

False Riches,

Sunflower.

See p.

63.

Fecundity,

JSollylioch.

The Chinese represent Nature crowned with these The hollyhock was brought from
crusades.

flowers.

Syria, in the time of the

Festivity, Parsley.

See p.

75.

Fidelity, SpeedweU, or Veronica.

One

of the loveliest flowers in

all

the realm of nature.

Tennyson does not forget

" The
little

speedwell's darling blue."

And Dupont,
it is

in his charming piece.

La

Vironique, says that

a dewdrop tinged by reflected light, which Aurora has

transformed to a flower.
"

He

goes on to say,

fleur insaisissable et pure,

SapMr dont nul ne

eait le prix,

Mlez-vou8 a la cheveliire De celle dont je Buis epris;

120

DICTIONARY OF TBE
Folntillez dans la mousscline

De son
t dans

blane peig:noir entr'ouvert,

la porcelaine line

Oi

sa Iftvre boit le th^ vert.

*

y^roniqueB, sous les chgnes

Fleurissez pour les simples coeurs,

Qui, dans les traverses humaines,

Vont cherchant

les petites fleurs."

Fidelity In

utilsfoi-tuiie, Wall Flower,

See p.

64.

Finesse, Sweet William,

Fire, Fraxw^lla.

In a warm, dry day, a gas exhales from the fraxinella,

which forms an
ignited

inflammable atmosphere

around

it,

easily

by the approach of a lighted candle.

Lilac,

First emotions of love,

See p.

IS.

Flame,' German

Iris,

The German peasants sometimes plant

roofs of their cottages.

this flower

on the

The sun, gilding the

petals as they

wave

in the breeze, produces a flame-like appearance.

Flattery, Venus^s Looking

It is related that

Glass,

Venus dropped one of her

mirrors.
it,

shepherd picked
his mistress,

it

up, and as soon as he looked in

forgot

and thought only of admiring himself,

gift

for the

mirror had the

it.

of making beautiful

all

who looked
silly

in

Love, fearing the consequences of such a

toy,

error,

broke the

and changed
still

its

fragments into this pretty

campanula, which
Folly, Columbine,
Its flowers,

retains its

name.

resembling a fool's-cap, gave rise to this emblem.

(/y4

PUBLISHED BY DE VRIES.LBARM ET

I:':,

BOSTON.

LAXGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Foresight, HoUy. See p.
82.

121

Forgetfolnegg, Satin Flower,

or ITonesty

Rene,

Duke

of Bar and Lorraine, having been taken pris-

oner at the battle of Thoulongeau, painted with his

own hand

a branch of this plant, and sent

it

to his people to reproach

them
It

for their tardiness

in

delivering

him from

captivity.

seems to have been used in magical incantations, for we

find in Drayton,

'*

Enchanting Lunarie here In sorceries excelling."

lies,

And

in

LaUa Rookh, Namouna puts

" the white moon-flower, as

in

the

chaplet

of

Nourmahal
it

shows,

On

Serendib'8 high crags, to those

Who
Forget

near the

isle at

evening sail."
60.

me

not, Forget-me-not,

See p.

Forgi-renesa of injiu-ies, Cinnamon

Tree.

" The dream of the injured, patient mind. That smiles with the wrongs of men. Is found in the bruised and wounded rind Of the cinnamon, sweetest then." Moore.

The
cassia

cassia of

commerce must not be confounded with the

which bears a beautiful yellow flower in our green-

houses.

Forsaken, Common WUlow.

Fragility, Fuchsia.

Franlcness,

Osier.

Fraternal love,

Syringa.

king of Egypt, one of the Ptolemys, was celebrated pir

11

122

DICTIONARY OF THE
His surname, Philadelphus {loving
to this species of syringa,

his love to his brother.

Ms

brother),

was given

which was

consecrated to his memory.

Friendship,

Ivy.

See p.

68.

FrivolOTis annnsement, Bladder Tree.

Frugality, Succory, Endive,

This plant
is

or Chiccory.
:

mentioned by Horace
"

me

pascunt

olivse,

Me
It is useful

eichorea, levesque malvje."

in medicine,

being of cooling and antiscorbutic

properties.

evening, Plane, or Platane.

Oiddiness, Almond
<wIo^y, Laurel,

Tree.

See p.

19.

See p. 8],

Good education,

Cherry Tree,


LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Good
fortune, Mugwort.
See p.
47.

123

Goodness,

Snowball, or Guelder Rose.

Grace, Birch.
Coleridge calls the birch the
" lady of the

woods " and

Gerald Massey writes,

*'

Lady

of the forest

Is the silver birk;

Shimmermg
*
*

the sunBhinc, Shivering at the mirk:

*

'Mid the dance of colors

And semitones of ^een. Gleams this daintier spirit That in leafdom is the qneen."

A wine
esteemed.
is

made from

the juice of the bu-ch was once highly

leather used in bookbinding
oil

The fragrant Bussia

prepared with the empyreumatic

Ash. tree

of the birch.

Grandeur,

The mu-aculous

Tgdrasil of the Edda, with

its

its

top

reaching to heaven and

roots to hell, was an ash.

Gratitude,

Camellia.

Agrimony.
its

The camellia

japonica, as
is

name shows, comes

to
in

us

from Japan, and

the

ornament of every garden

that

country and in China.

It well
is

repays careful cultivation.

The name camellia

from George Camellus, a missionary,

and author of a work on botany.

Agrimony has
disUke
it,

a bitter and slightly aromatic taste.

Cattle

but

it is

thought to have some useful medicinal

qualities.

Grief, Garden Marigold.

See p. 56.

124

DICTIONARY OF THE

Happiness,

Sweet Sultan,

native of Turkey.
Basil.

Hatred,

The Greek name of this herb

with,

signifies

royal ; but

its identity

or similai'ity to, that of a fabulous

creature supposed

to

kill

by a single glance, has caused basil to become the

said to have eyes like the basilisk.

emblem of hate, hatred being

Poverty
is

sometimes figured as a

woman

covered with rags,

seated beside a plant of basil.

Healing, Balm

of Gilead,
Oilej

The true balm of Gilead, produced by the Amyris

adensis,
is

never to be met with pure, except in the East

place
is

and

therefore

its

usually supplied

by the American balm

fir,

of Gilead, which exudes from a beautiful species of

and

resembles the Oriental balm in most of

its

essential qualities,

Heart

left to desolation, Clirysanthemum.

The pretty

flowers that enliven the

autumn with

their varied

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

125

hues ought surely to be emblems of some more cheerful senti-

ment than
themum,
it

this.

China

is

the native country of the chrysan-

as of

many

other of our most valued flowers, whence

was introduced

into

Europe

in 1789.

It is a favorite

with

gardeners throughout India, and very beautiful dwarf plants

of
it

are reared for in-door decoration.

Hidden merit.

Coriander,

The aromatic seeds of

tioners

this plant are

much used by

confecis

and physicians

but the odor of fresh coriander

horis expresses.

insufferable, as the

name
23.

Hope, Hawthorn.
Horror, Serpent

See p.

Cactus.

Hospitality, Oak.

See p. 73.

Humility, Bindweed,

1 I

adore you.

Heliotrope,

See p. 62.

am

your

captive. Peach JiloBsom,

11*

126

DICTIONARY OF TBE

I cling to thee, Vetch, or CMch Pea. I die if neglected, Laurestine.

See p.
80.

1 feel

your

l>eiielits. Flax.

Linen,

lace,

and paper remind us every instant of

this

useful plant.
also
is

The seeds

are used in preparing poultices, and

;

make

a useful drink

while the

oil

expressed from them

invaluable to painters.

Illness, Garden Anemone.

In some provinces the anemone

air,

is

thought to poison the

and cause various maladies.

Ovid makes the anemone

spring from the blood of Adonis.

"

Could Pluto's queen with jealous fury storm, to a fragrant herb transform? Yet dares not Venus with a change surprise. And in a flower bid her fallen hero rise?' Then on the blood sweet nectar she bestows; The scented blood in little bubbles rose. Little as rainy drops which fluttering fly. Borne by the winds along a lowering sky. Short time ensued, till where the blood was shed A flower began to rear its purple head; Such as on Punic apples is revealed. Or in the filmy rind but half concealed. Still here the fate of lovely forms we see. So sudden fades the sweet anemone. The feeble stems to stormy blasts a prey. Their sickly beauties droop and pine away The winds forbid the flowers to flourish long, Which owe to winds their name in Grecian song."
'

And Menthe

2V. by Eusden.

Immortality,

Amarainth.

See p.

74.

Impatience, Bal&amvne.

The impatient

seed-vessels

of the

balsamine

burst open

suddenly at the slightest touch.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Importttnity, Burdock,

127

The burdock takes possession of good ground, from which

it is

very difficult to extirpate

it.

The attachment of the burrs

to clothing is famUiar to alL

Unprepossessing as the burdock

appears,

it

seems to be a useful plant.

The roots and

stalks

are said to

be eatable, either boiled or in salad.

Snails feed
;

on

its

rough leaves, -which are also used as a poultice

and

the seeds are

recommended

as

good to

fatten poultry.

Independence, WUd Plum.

This indocile tree dislikes to be pruned or transplanted.
Indifference, Candy Tuft.
I never tronble. Rose Leaf.

The well-known reply of Dr. Zeb

to the academicians of

Amadan

illustrates this sentiment.

Infidelity, YeUmo Rose.

Injustice, Hop.

Innocence,

Innocence, or Houstonia ctBrulea.

'

It

comes when wakes the pleasant spring.

first

When

the earth

is

green,
it

Four white or pale blue leaves

hathj

With yellow heart between.

It

grows about a heap of stones, For there the dew will stay;
dusty road. children are at play.

It springs beside the

Where
It dots

with stars the grassy bank That slopes adown the brook,
blue.

And there it takes a deeper And there a fresher look.

12^

DICTIONARY OF THE

We

thoe Innocence, Bweet one; well it thee beseems, For thou art cherished in the heart,
call

And

With

childhood's sinless dreams."

Mrs. Seba Smith.

Inspiration, Angelica.
This beautiful plant, which grows in the remotest countriesi of the north, forms a crown for the Lapland poets,
lieve that its sweet

who

be-

odor gives inspiration.

says, "

The Flora Medica

and the

The

leaf

and

seeds,

when

recent,

root, both fresh

and

dried, are tonic

and carminative,

and may be considered the most elegant aromatic of our

northern climes.
is

By

the Laplanders and Icelanders angelica

much

in request, both as an article of food

and

for medi-

cinal purposes.

The former use

;

it

for

many

catarrhal and

pectoral affections

the stalks, roasted, are used

by them

as

an

article

of food

and we

are told

by

Sir

George Mackenzie,
butter.

that the Icelanders eat the stems

and roots raw with

In this country [England,] the tender stems are cut in May,

and made into an agreeable sweetmeat.

is

By Gerarde
of
life."

angelica

extolled as a panacea for

Grape.

all

the

ills

Intemperance,

Pliny mentions a vine six hundred years old.

The vine

at

Hampton

Court, in the yeat 1816, produced

a ton of grapes.

Intrinsic wortli, Gentian.

The name
of lUyria.
cine,

is

said to

be derived from Gentianus, a king

Some

varieties of the gentian are

used in medi-

the

root being an excellent bitter.

Bryant has sung

the

praises of the

beautiful fringed gentian, and

we quote

LANGVAOE OF FLOWERS.

129

a sonnet, new, perhaps, to some of our readers, on this most

lovely flower.

SONNET
TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN.
**

Oft had I heard thy beauty praised, dear flower, And often soug^ht for thee through field and wood; Yet could I never find the secret bower

Where thou

cloistered

life,

dost lead, in maiden solitude, until, tliis autumn day,

And laughed

Beside a tree that shook her golden hair at death, flaunting her rich array, I found thee, blue as the still depths of air

Seen leagues away, between the pine-wood boughs, O, never yet a gladder sight hath met
Depart, before the snows fringed garments wet Thine azure flowers should never fade nor die. But bloom, exhale, and gain their native sky." TlM Xew rath, Oct., 1865.

These eyes of mine

Of hastening winter thy

I prefer yow. Rose Geranium.

Irony, Sardonia.
This plant, of the ranunculus famUy, has some resemblance
to parsley.
It contains a poison,

which contracts the mouth

so strangely, that the person appears to laugh while dying.

Hence the

expression, a sardonic laugh.

I shall not snrvlve yon, BJfiek Mulberry.

The reader
in

is

referred to the history of Pyi-amus and Thisbe,

La

Fontaine.

I share

yonr

feelings. Double Daisy.

See p.

90.

gnrmonnt everything,
think of
it.

Mistletoe.

See p.

78.

I iTlll

Single Field Daisy.

See p.

88.

130

DICTIONAMT OF TEE

Joy, Wood

Sorrel, or Oxalis.

Justice shall

toe

done

yoix, Fragrant Coltsfoot.

Sieep. 70.

(^\

:&

^i-^

Keep your promises, Plum

Tree.
;

This tree blossoms profusely every year

but unless some

ever)'

of this useless ornament

third year.

is

removed,

it

bears fruit only

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

131

^A'^-sT

Iiasting beauty, Common

Gillyflower.

See p. 54.

Xicvity, Xiiglituess, Larkspur.

Juife, ittcem.

liOTe, Myrtle.

Bed Damasli Ease.

p. 18.

See pp. ii, 36.

liiixury, Horse-chestnut. See

majesty,

TPftite Ljf.

See p. 53.

132 Maternal love,

DICTIONARY OF TEE
Moss.
See p.
79.

meanness. Dodder.

The seed of the dodder germinates

soon as
itself to
its

in the

ground ; but as
it

stem encounters that of another plant,

the root dries up, and
it

fastens

it;

lives entirely at the

expense of the other.

the juices of
its

Like a

vile

parasite, it
it.

absorbs

all

supporter, and soon kills

Melancholjr, Weeping Willow. Dead

Leaves.

See p.

18.

" The melancholy days are come,

The saddest of the year, Of walling winds, and naked woods, And meadows brown and sere. Heaped in the hollows of the grove, The withered leaves lie dead; They rustle to the eddying gust,

And

to the rabbit's tread." Bryaiit.

modern French

poet, V. de Laprade, has also written a

beautiful

poem, beginning Feuilles, tombez.

Iris.

Message, Common Garden

There are more than thirty varieties of the

iris.

Its vaiied

and beautiful colors have caused

lovely messenger of the gods.

it

to be

named from
is

the

Orris root
iris is

the root of the

Florentine

iris.

The Persian
Teasel.

very fragrant.

Misantliropy,

Mistrust, La/vender.
It

was formerly believed that asps had their lurking-places

lavender,

under

and

therefore
is

this

plant was approached

with mistrust.
for headaches

Lavender

a grateful perfume,

and a

specific

and nervousness.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Modest Wortb.,
Modesty, Blue
Primrose. See p. 24.

13S

Violet.

See p.

92.

Monmiitg,

Purple ScabUms, or Mourning Bride. Cypress. See p.

71-

M!nsic, Reeds,

Pan formed

the Arcadian pipe from the reeds into which

Syrinx was transformed.

My
My

best days are past, Meadow

Saffron.

See p.

68.

gratitude exceeds yoiu- cares,

2?aAZia.

See p. 55.

IValvet^, Silver Weed.

JVatxTe

^ace,

Cowslip.

Shakspeare makes the servant of the

fairy

queen say, -

cowslips tall her pensioners be; In their gold coats spots you see: Those be rubies, fairy favors; In those freckles live their savors I mnst go seek some dew-drops here, And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear,

"The

12

134
Neatness, Broom.

DICTIONAEY OP TBE

The broom

is

found wild in Europe.

It is a fragrant, papil-

ionaceous, yellow ilower.

*'

Burns

says in his Caledonia,

Their groves of sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon, "Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume; Far dearer to me yon lone glen o* green breckan, Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom."

And

Shakspeare mentions

Whose shadow

" broom groves. the dismissed bachelor loves.

Being lass-lorn."
iVovelty, Dahlia,
See p.
35.

Obstacle, Rest-harrow.

See p. 27.

Occupation,

Foxglove.

Rhind
it

says,

"The beauty

of this plant has recommended

to the notice of the florist, It

and

it is

accordingly often found

in the garden parterre.

also

forms an ornamental and

scenes
it

conspicuous

object in

many woodland and mountain

in Scotland and Wales.

Among

the country people

has


LANGUAGE OF FLbWEBS.
received various names.
called
Ill
'

135
it is
still

In the south of Scotland

'

bloody fingers
it is

in

the north,

'

dead man's

bells.'

Wales

called

'

fairies' gloves.'

Fairies were often called

'folks;' hence, no doubt, the

origin of the

common name
The foxglove

'foWs

glove,'

and not, as misspelled, foxglove."

has very powerful medicinal qualities, especially in dropsy,

and to retard the

circulation.

It requires to

be administered

with great caution, being a violent poison.

value
it

The
Aralda

Italians
tutte le

so highly that they have a proverb, "

all hurts).

piaghe sana" (Foxglove cures

There are two kinds,

the purple or red, and the white.

poet WTites,

" Here the spotted foxglove dwells, Ringing oft its fairy bells; And its sister, purely white, Makes the shady places bright. Like that maiden mild and young ^Y Spenser's magic numbers sung."

Oracle, Bandelian,.

The dandelion
to

is

used as a
coifee.

salad, as greens, as
Its
;

bitter,

and
are

prepare

a kind of

feathery seed-globes
its

made

to give various prophecies

hence

meaning, oracle.

Ornament, Sbrnbeam.
Under the name of
cliarmille, this iine tree

was formerly the

;

principal ornament of the great gardens of France

and one

can
it

still

see at Versailles

how

the famous

Le N6tre employed
it

in his compositions.

Father Rapin has eulogized

in

verse.

Ostentation, Peony.

The peony was

called ii-om the

Greek Pseon, who

its

is

said to

have used.it in medicine, and cured Pluto, by

means, of a

136

BICTIOSABY OF THE
inflicted

wound
peony.

by Hercules.
is

There are two kinds of the

found native in Europe and

The herbaceous one

Asia

the shrubby one comes from China and Japan.

Faliiliil recollections, Flos Adanis.

See p. 52.

Patience, Patience.

A kind

of dock.

Patriotism, Nasturtium,
Peace,
Olive,

Neptune disputed with Minerva about naming the new

of Athens, and
gift to
it

city

was agreed that the one who gave the best

man

should give the name.

olive tree,

Neptune produced the

victorious.

horse,

Minerva the
English

and she was

An

author says of the olive tree, "It has been

it

compared to a willow;

differs,

however, very materially

LANGUAGE. OF FLOWERS.
in its color,

137

having none of that sickly hue of bluish green

which gives such a peculiar coldness to the landscapes of

some of the Dutch

painters.

The upper

side of the leaf has

precisely that tint familiarly

known by

the

name

of olive.
is

The under

side is of shining whiteness,

its

and

as the foliage

turned up by the lightest breeze,

progress over the valleys

covered with olive gardens becomes visible in the form of a

silver

cloud gliding across the landscape.

oil

The

inhabitants

of the south of Europe employ the

fruit

expressed from the

as

of

this

tree

for

the

same purposes
dislike to the

we employ

butter,

and feel

at least as

much

produce of the
use of
oil."

dairy, as

an

article

of food, as

we may

feel to the

Ruffini has set this last fact charmingly before his readers in

the beautiftd story of " Doctor Antonio.''

Pensive

lieality,

Laburnum.

Peusiveness,

Cowslip.

Perfect excellence, Strawberry.

See p. 33.

Perpetual pleasure,

Everlasting Pea,

Perseverance, Magnolia.

The magnolia grandiflora

production of the

is

the

most superb vegetable

is

New
The

World.

Its region

from South
it

Carolina to the Isthmus of Darien.

is

We

are also told that

found in China.

peculiar and fascinating odor of the

if

magnolia flower can never be forgotten

once inhaled.

Petulance, Barberry.

The

flowers of this shrub are so irritable, that at the slight-

est touch the stamens contract

around the

pistil.

12*

138
Platonic love,

DICTIONARY OF THE
Locust.

See p.
or

62.

Pleasantry, Jialm Mint,

Lemon Balm.

An

infusion of

it

tends to exhilarate.

Poetry, Eglantine.

See p. 45.

Po'iver, Crown Imperial.

Preference, Apple Blossom.

Psesagc, Mainy Marigold.

This ilower, in dry weather, opens at seven and closes at
four.

If

it

does not open, or closes before

its

hour,

it

is

considered a sure sign of rain.

Presumption, Snapdragon.
Pretension, Willow Herh.
This pretty plant seems to take delight in viewing
in the water
;

itself

like

a pretentious

woman enamoured

of her

own charms.
Pride, Amaryllis.

Gardeners

call this beautiful

plant proud, because

it

often

refuses to flower under careful culture.

The name of

these

plants is derived

from a Greek verb signifying to

shine.

Privation, Indian Plum, or Myroholan.

The

fruit

has the color and look of a

insipid,

iine

cherry, but

contains only an

sickening juice.

Even

the birds

refuse to eat them.

Profit, Cabbage.

Froliibitiou, Privet, or Prim.

See p.

31.

LAS GVAGE OF FLOWERS.

Promptness,
Stock Gillyflower.

139

Prosperity, Beech.
Gilbert
trees,

White

calls

the beech " the

its

most lovely of

all forest
its

whether we consider

smooth rind or bark,

glossy

foliage, or graceful,

pendulous boughs."
trees,

Old Evelyn says,

their

"

They make spreading

and noble shades with

leaves."
is

well-furnished and
"

glistering

And

Miller

writes,

Xot

that the color of the oak

be compared to the rich

orange hue of the beech, which

beautiful of all
blaze."

is,

beyond question, the most

autumnal colors to an eye that loves a deep

In the olden times, beds,

leaves.

%ht

and fragrant, were

is

made from beech

be but
little

The

oil

from beech nuts

said to

inferior to olive oil.

Prudence,

Service Tree.

Lemon.

See p.

77.

The lemon
was
laid

tree is proverbial for its fertility.

In 1812, a wager

between a gentleman of Massa and the Marchese

Calani of Spezzia, that a lemon tree at Cresullo, half a mile

from Massa, would produce fourteen thousand lemons.

exceeded that number.
Ptire

It

and deep

love, Carnation.

See p.

49.

Pure

love, Med Pink.

Star of Bethlehem.

Pnxity,

White

Violet.

White Idly.

See p.

6.3.

140

DICTIONARY OF THE

Barity, Mandralce.
" Not poppy, nor mandragora,
the drowsy sirups of the world Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ow'dst yesterday." Shakspeare.

Nor

all

The ancients

attributed great virtues to the mandragora

left

but as they have

us no exact description of the plant,

we

are ignorant to -what species they gave the

name.

Charlatans,

by a gross

artifice,

sometimes make several roots assume the

tell

shape of a man, and

the credulous that they are true

mandrakes, found only in an almost inaccessible part of China.

They

are fabled to utter cries

is

when

pulled up, and the person

after.

who
this

uproots them
root,

supposed to die soon

it

To procure

they say

should be carefully uncovered, and

pulled up by means of a string attached to a dog, which then

bears the penalty of the impious deed.

Reason,

Goat's Hue.
is

This plant
lects.

thought useful in oases of disordered,

intel-


LANOUAOE OF FLOWERS.
Reconciliation, Basel.
" Ye Bwains,

141

now haBten to the hazel bank, Where down yon dale the wildly winding brook
Falls hoarse from steep to steep. In close array. Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub, Ye virginB, come. For you their latest song

The woodlands raise; the clustering nuts The lover finds amid the secret shade,

for

you

And where they burnish on the topmost bough With active vigor crushes down the tree. Or shakes them ripe from the resigning husk."
Thomson.

The hazel was

said to have been imported into Italy

from

Pontus; hence the

Roman name,
The
filbert is

nitx

pontica, -which
city

was

changed
it

later to

nux avellana, from a Neapolitan

where

was

cultivated.

not a distinct species, but

a mere variety of hazel.

Gower

tells us,

" Phillis

Was
That

shape into a nutte-tree,

all

men

it

might

see;

And

after Phillis,

PMWerd

This tree was eleped."

But Rhind says

filbert is

a corruption of full-beard,

a.

word

applied to designate the large, fringed husk.

of the hazel
is

As

the

wood

very

flexible,

it

is

applied to various uses.

Of

it

are

made hoops

for barrels, hurdles, fishing-rods, crates,

poles,

and walking-sticks.

In Italy the chips are used to clear

turbid wine.

Withering informs us that in some places the

twigs take the place of yeast.

artists, as it

Hazel charcoal
easily.

is

prized by

draws

freely,

and rubs out

The caduceus

of Mercury was supposed to be a hazel wand, given him by

Apollo.

Begret beyond

tlie

tomb,

Asphodel.

The ancients planted

this flower beside

tombs, and believed


1^2
that beyond

DICTIONARY OF TBE
Acheron the
spirits

walked

in

a vast field of

asphodel, drinking the water of Lethe.

Remembrance,

Rosemary.

" There's rosemary

love,

that's

for

remembrance; pray you,

remember."
;

" For you, there's rosemary and rue these keep Seeming and savor all the winter long^; Grace and remembrance be to you both."
*'

Stick your rosemary

On

this fair corse."

Slmkspeare.

Rosemary
It

is

used at christenings, weddings, and funerals.

stir

blossoms about Christmas, and our ancestors used to

up with a branch of rosemary the spiced Christmas tankard.

Herrick, in allusion to
**

its

different uses, says that

at all

it

Grows for two ends it matters not Be it for my bridal, or my burial."

;

This aromatic plant has had a merited reputation, from the

most ancient
disorders.
It

times, as a

remedy in headaches and nervous

forms the principal ingredient in the celebrated

Eau

de la Reine de Hongrie, or Hungary Water.

Henry Kirke White wrote,

TO THE HERB EOSEMAEY.

"Sweet-scented flower! who 'rt wont to bloom On January's front severe, And o'er the wintry desert drear To waft thy waste perfume! Come, thou shalt form my nosegay now. And I will bind thee round my brow; And as I twine the mournful wreath I'll weave a melancholy song; And sweet the strain shall be and long, The melody of death.

143

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Come, funeral
flower,

who

lov'st to dwell

"With the pale corse in lonely tomb, And throw'st across the desert gloom

sweet decaying smell, my lips, and lie with me Beneath the lowly alder tree And we will sleep a pleasant sleep,

Come, press

And

not a care shall dare intrude

solitude,

To break the marble

So peaceful and so deep."

Remorse,

Raspherry.

RendezTons,

Pimpernel.

Its punctuality in

opening and closing makes

it

fit

emblem

for

an appointment.
See p. 21.

Repose, Euckbean.
Reserve, Maple.

The maple has been made the emblem of

its

reserve, because
falling.

flowers are slow to open,

and very long in

Resistance, Tremella Nostoc, or Nostoc Commune,

Nothing positive

is

known about

this gelatinous plant,

which

seems a link between the animal and vegetable kingdoms.

It

was celebrated among the alchemists, who thought

stars,

it

an

emanation from the

and used

it

in searching after the

philosopher's stone and the universal panacea.

Retirement,

Harebell.

The Lady

of the
" This

Lake
little

says, as she plucks a harebell,

ilower, that loves the lea.

my simple emblem be; heaven's dew as blithe as rose That in the king's own garden grows
May
well
It drinks

And when Ho
ne'er

1 place it in
is

my

hair,

Allan, a bard

bound to swear
fair."

saw coronet so

144

DICTIONARY OF THE
" Have ye ever heard, in the twilight dim, A low, soft strain, That ye fancied a distant vesper hymn. Borne o'er the plain By the zephyrs that rise on perfumed wing. When the sun's last glances are glimmering ?
*
* * *
I'll tellj

The source of

that whispering strain

For I've listened oft To the music faint of the blue harebell. In the gloaming soft; 'Tis the gay fairy folk the peal who ring

At eventime

for their banqueting.

gayly the trembling bells peal out With gentle tongue. While elves and fairies career about, 'Mid dance and song: O, roses and lilies are fair to see. But the wild bluebell is the flower for me." Wild Flowers.

And

Return of happinegs,
Reverie, Osmunda,

Lily of the Valley.

See p,

30.

No

one can form an adequate idea of the beauty of the

regalis, according to Curtis,

osmunda

who

has not seen

this

fern growing in the southern pai't of England, where, sheltered

by

alders, it

grows to the height of

five feet,

bearing at the

extremities a

mass of

fructification so conspicuous as to have

caused

it

to be

commonly known
by ancient
is

as flowering fern.

Its virtues

are highly extolled

authors.

" Osmonde," says the

first

translator of Dodonseus, "

in the second.

hoate in the

degree, and dry

is

The harte of the root of osmunde

or bruises, heavie
or greevous
it

good

against

squattes

falles,

and

whatever hurt or dislocation soever

Riches, Corn.

be."

Roughness,

Scratchweed,

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Rnptnre, Greek
Valerian, or Polemony.

145

The name

is

from Polemos, -which means war, because, as

Pliny assvires us, several kings disputed for the honor of

having discovered

it.

Sadness, Tew. See

p. 88.

Sensibility, Verbena.

The

original of

aU the numerous verbenas now cultivated

scarlet,

was the verbena melindres, or common

South America to England.

carried

from

These flowers are of such varied

cultivation, that

and beautiful
ill

tints,

and so easy of

we

could

spare them from the flower bed or window.

SensitiT-eness, Sensitive Plant, or Mimosa,

Serenade, Dew

Plant.

The resemblance

to

dew-drops of the

little

transparent

vesicles in the leaves of this plant probably

caused the con-

oection of ideas with evening music.

Sigliing, Aspen.

13

146

DICTIONARY OF THE
See p.
43.

Silence, White Rose.

Silliness, Scarlet Geranium,

See p.

70.

Simplicity, Wild Single Rose.

Sincerity, Fern.

Thomas
up the

Miller

says,
it

"

The very name

lives

of the

fern

calls

forest,

where

still

on,

though ages ago the

it
still

mighty oaks have heen

to its native soil, the
It is associated Vfith

felled

there

spreads, true
sincerity.

hardy image of deep-rooted

our oldest fairy legends, and our simple

ancestors believed that they

seed,

had hut

to find the

true fern

and carry

it

about with them, to become invisible."

Slcill, Spider Orchis.

This flower resembles the insect into which Arachne was

transformed by Minerva, and which, under

has lost nothing of her
skill.

its

hideous form,

Sleep,

Willie

Poppy.

The palace of Sqmnus was a cave near the Cimmerians.

Poppies grew before the entrance, and Morpheus, his prima
minister,

watched over his couch, a vase in one hand and

other.

poppies in the
similes

The poets have drawn many

fin

from
"

this flower, as for instance,

As full-blown poppies, overcharged with rain, Decline the head, and, drooping, kiss the plain, So sinks the youth." Papers Homer. "But You
pleasures are like poppies spread; seize the flower, its bloom is shed."

Bums.
Solitude, Heath.
See p. 31.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Sorcery,
jSnclianted Nightshade.

147

Sonrnega, Barberrj.
Stoicism, Box,
Strengtli, Fennel.

The

gladiators

mixed

it

with

their

food to give

them

strength; and after the games of the arena, the yictor was

crowned with

fennel.
;

Milton speaks of the " smell of sweetest fennel " and Longfellow says, in the " Goblet of Life,"

" Above the lowly plants It towers, The fennel, with its yellow flowers And in an earlier age than ours Was gifted with the wondrous powers
I^ost vision to restore."

Superior merit, Moss

Surety,
Cistus.

Rose.

See p.

44.

Aristotle assures us that this

plant preserves those

who

hold

it

in their

hands from

spirits

and phantoms.

Suspicion,

Miisliroom.

Some
them

kinds of mushrooms are edible, and others, resembling

closely, are very poisonous.

Sfveet disposition, Lavatera.

The
mallow.

lavatera
It
is

is

an extremely delicate and lovely garden

after

called

the

celebrated

physiognomist

Lavater.

Sweet memories.

Periwinkle.

See p.

20.

Sympathy,

Thrift.

148

DICTIONABY OF THE

Taste, Fuchsia,
This graceful plant
is

a native of Mexico, and was named

botanist.

from L. Puchs, a German

Tears, JSlecampane, or Selenium.

It

was fabled to have sprung from

tlie

tears of Helen.

TemptatioiL, Quince.

The quince
it

is

found in a wild state in Austria.

into
Italy

Pliny says
;

was brought

from Cydon, in Crete

It is

hence

its

botanical name, malus cydonia.

also described under

the

names of pyrus cydonia and cydonia vulgaris.

The

far-

famed apples of the Hesperides were most probably

quinces-

The French
to

call the

quince tree coignassier, because, according

fruit

Du

Hamel, the unpleasant odor of the

caused

it

to be

planted in a remote corner (coin) of the orchard or garden.

In

New

England, the smell

is

generally considered rather

pleasant than otherwise.

lade called cotignac
is

In the south of France, the marmaprepared from this fruit

The word

lull

i].iY.r^e\ir i- I>'i}iit Pi.^Jdy

h rie;ir,'',Pins

njELISHED BYDE VRIES, IBARRA ETC" BOSTON.


LAXGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
marmalade
quince,
is

149

said to

come from the Portuguese name of the

are used for jelly, handoline,

marmdo.

The seeds

and

mucilage, though these last preparations do not keep long.

Quince pie was anciently esteemed a

delicacy.

In

Romeo

and

Juliet, the

nurse
call

tells

Lady

Capulet,
tlie

" They

for dats and quinces in

pastry."

The

Graces, Sundred-Leaved Rose,

the Grraces attend the Muses, they wear wreaths of

When
this rose.

Tlionglit, Pansy,

"And

there

is

pansies; that's for thoughts."

Shakspea/re,

"Lilies for a bridaL bed, Eoses for a matron's head, Yiolcts for a maiden dead; Fansies let my flowers be."

There

is

no end of

fanciful

names

for this flower, such as,

three faces under a hood, heart's-ease, kiss-me-quick, ladies'delight, love-in-idleness, and,

among

the Germans,

little

step-

mother.

Shakspeare's famous compliment to

its

Queen

Eliza-

beth gives us

origin

" That very time I saw (but thou couldst not), Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all armed: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal, throned by the west, And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow. As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts. But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon

And

the imperial vot-aress passed on. In maiden meditation, fancy free.

Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell. fell upon a little western flower, Before, milk-white; now, purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness,"
It

13*

150
Time, Wvite
This was
I'oplav.

DICTIONARY OF THE

made

the

emblem of

time, because

its

leaves,

dark on one side and bright on the

other, represent day

and night.
Timiaitjr, Four
o'Clooli, or

Marvel of Peru.

See p.

69.

Tranquillity, GoW, Basket. This plant has been supposed to have the power of curing madness.
Monkshood, or Aconite.

Treacliery, Wkorfleherryy or Huclcleb&rry.

ffinomaiis, father of the fair Hippodamia,

had

for a

groom

Myrtilus, the son of Mercury.

Proud

of this advantage, he

required with

all

the pretenders to his daughter's

a,

hand to compete
to obtain

him

in

chariot race.

Pelops,

who wished
if

Hippodamia, promised Myrtilus a great reward

he would

take out the pin which held his master's chariot wheels.
did so
piring,
;

He

the car was upset, and ffinomaiis was killed

but, ex-

he besought Pelops to avenge him, which he did by

sea.

throwing Myrtilus into the

Thrown back on

the shore,
little

Mercury changed him to

myrtle.
Its pretty,

this shrub,

which resembles a

bell-shaped flowers are succeeded by dark

berries of an agreeable flavor.

Professor Burnett says of aconite, " Its deleterious

efiects

were well known to the ancients, who regarded

it

as

the

most violent of

all

poisons,

being
it

unacquainted with those

of mineral origin,

and fabled

to be the invention of Hecate,

who caused
is

it

to spring from the

foam of Cerberus.

Aconite

said to have been the principal ingredient in the poisonous

;

cup that was mingled by Medea for Theseus

and

it

was

the

LAXGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

151

poison employed to execute the barbarous law in the island

of Ceos, which

condemned
It is

to death all

who were no longer

remedy

useful to the state." in gout, rheumatism,

now used

as a powerful

paralysis,

and intermittent

fevers.

Trutli, Bittersweet, or Woody Nightshade.

ITiicertainty, MocJ;; Orange.

TJncliaiiging friendsliip. Arbor

Vitx.

United

liearts, PhZox.

TJselessuess, Queen of the Meadow, Meadow Sweet, or Spirxa.

Uselessijess
is

the universal signification of this pretty flower;

it

but Mr. MiUer well suggests that

Beauty.

be changed to Neglected

UtUlty,

Grass..

See p.

17.

152

DICTIONARY OF THE

Vainglory, Hydrangea,

or Hortenxia,

A
it

shrub from the East Indies, whose showy corymbs of

changeable flowers, and handsome green leaves, formerly made

a great favorite.

Vaiii is

beauty witliout merit,

but
scentless
flowers,

Coclcle,

and

jRose

Campion,

Pretty,
fields.

growing in or near corn-

We

read in Job xxxi. 40, " Let thistles grow instead

of wheat, and cockle instead of barley."

Variety, Double German Aster,

Vice, Tares,
See p. 51.

See p.

61.

Victory, Laurel, See

p. 81.

Volaptwottsmeas,

Tuberose.

Moss Rose,

See pp.

61, 44.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

153

War,

MUfoil, or Yarrow.

Achilles,

whose name

this plant bears in botany,

used

it

to

heal the

wounds of Telephus.
of feeling, Peppermint.

Warmth

Proserpina surprised Mentha in the arms of Pluto, and,

justly irritated,

changed her to a plant, whose double savor

chill

seems to contain the

of fear and the warmth of love.

TVeakness, Musk Plant.

Wealth,

Wheat.

See p.

S5.

Welcome,

TraUing Arbutus, Mayflower, or Ground Laurel.

in Spring's first

" Art thou not dearer

prime
time
?

Than the
"

fairest rose of the

Summer

"

forest flower can boast, heaming; herald of the Spring How thrilled thy smile when on our rock-bound coast The wearied pilgrims found thee blossoming

charm hast thou no

little

Thou

154

DICTIONARY OF THE

blessing on thy graceful, perfumed bell, That bloomed in roseate tints for years unknown, And peered above the withered leaves to tell How in the wilderness God's love is shown." M. X. Jenks, Wisdom, Wliite Mulberry,

TVitliout pretension,

dnnamon

Rose.

There
finish

is

a peculiar look of incompleteness and want of

Its color is

about this rose.

of
its

very

dull,

compared with

the rest
irregular,

glowing

sisterhood,

and the bush has an

ragged growth.

Yet

it

is

often quite fragrant, and

the leaf

is

sometimes very pretty.

It

should always be gath-

ered in bud.
TTorcls, tliough sweet,

may
this

deceive, American Laurel.

The great beauty of

from exterminating
to their sheep.
it

shrub does not prevent farmers

it is

on

their lands, because

so poisonous

Ton

are perfect, Pme-Apple.

This fragrant fruit was introduced into Holland, from South

LANGUAGE OF FLOWEUS.
America, about the middle af the seventeenth century;
the Earl of Portland carried
it

155
and

to
it
:

England

in 1690.

Thomson

thus apostrophizes

" Thou, the pride

Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er The poets imaged in the golden age,
let me. strip thee of thy tufty coat, Spread thy ambrosial stores, and feast with Jove."

Quick,

You

are radiant

vritli.

cKarms, Garden Sanunculus.

Ilowt beauty is vain, Hibiscus.

"

would be fair, but see the fair and proud, Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud."
I

JVoiton.

" Only a sweet and virtuous

soul,

Like seasoned timber, never gives. But, when the whole world turns to coal,

Then

chiefly lives."
Jjterbert,

" The body subject

is

Fortune's power, And to a million of mishaps Is casual every hour; And death in time doth change
fickle

To

It to a clod of clay

Whereas the mind, which is divine, Runs never to decay." Zord Vaux.

The African

hibiscus

is

a well-known annual in the flower

in

garden, and those

who have ever seen

some conservatory

the superb variety rosa sinensis, or Chinese hibiscus, will not

be likely to forget

its

exquisite richness of color.

The Chinese

are said to use the petals for blacking shoes.

Tour cliarms are graven in

The
spindle tree

my

heart, Spindle Tree.

Its

makes pretty hedges.

wood

is

used
it.

for spindles

and

pencils.

Sculptors and turners also prize

156

LANG UA GE OF FLO WEES.

freeze

Tour looks

me,

Ice Plant.

Tour presence revives me,

The Hungary Water,
from rosemary.

Rosemary.
is

so refreshing a toilet article,

made

Tour

qualities surpass
White Lilac.

your

cliarnks, MigTwnette.

See p. 58.

Touth,

By

its

purity and short duration, this flower typifies youth.

Toutlifuluess, Crocus,
" The spendthrift crocus, bursting- from the mould, Naked and shivering, with his cup of gold." Holmes.

DICTIONARY

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET

Acacia (Common),
Acacia (Rose),

v.

Locust.

Elegance.
Art.

Acanthus,

Adonis

(Flos),

Painful recollections.

Agnus

Castus,

Coldness

life

without lore.

Agrimony
Almond,
14

Gratitude.

Gid(Mness; heedlessness.
(157)

158
Aloe,

DICTIONARY FOR
Bitterness.

Amaranth,
Amaryllis,

Immortality.

....
.

Pride.
Illness,

Anemone
Angelica,

(Garden),

Anemone (Windfiower),

Desertion.
Inspiration.

Apple Blossom, Arbor

Ash,
Vitse,

Preference.

Unchanging
Grandeur.

friendship.

Aspen,

Sighing.

Asphodel,
Aster (Double German),
.

Regret beyond the tomb.

.

Variety.

Aster (Large-flowered),

Afterthought.

Bachelor's Button,

v.

Bluebottle.

Balm Mint, Balm of Gilead

Balsaniine

Pleasantry.

Healing.
Impatience.

Barberry,
Basil,

...

Petulance
Hatred.
Laurel.

sourness.

Bay,
Beech,

V.

Prosperity.
v.

Bee

Orchis,

Orchis.

Bindweed,
Birch,

Humility.
Grace.

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Bittersweet Nightshade,
. .

159

Trjith.

Black Bryony, Black Mulberry, Black Poplar,

....!>.
. .
.

Bryony.
Mulberry.
Poplar.
Difficulties.

v. v.
.

Blackthorn, or Sloe,

Bladder Tree,
Bluebottle,

Frivolous amusement.
Delicacy.

Blue Passion Flower,

Blue
Violet,

v.
v.

Passion Flower.

Violet
Abruptness.
Stoicism^

Borage,

Box,
Briers,

Envy.
. .

Brompton Stock,
Broom,

v.

Gillyflower.

Neatness.

Bryony (Black)
Buckbean
Bugloss

Be my

support.
;

Calmness

repose.

Falsehood.
.

Burdock,
Buttercup,

Importunity.
Crowfoot.

v.

Cabbage
Calla

Profit.

Feminine
Gratitude.

delicacy.

Camellia,

Camomile,
Candytuft,

Energy

in adversity.

Indiflference.

160
Canterbury Bell
Cardinal Flower,
Carnation,

DICTIONARY FOB
Constancy.

....
.
.

Distinction.

Pure and deep

.

love.

Celery Crowfoot,

Crowfoot.

Cherry
Chestnut,
Chiccory,

good education.

Do me justice.
Frugality.
v.
. .
,

Chickpea,

Vetch.

Chickweed (Red),

v.

Pimpernel.

Chrysanthemum,

....
v.

A heart left to desolation.

Forgiveness of injuries.

Cinnamon Tree
Cinquefoil,
Circe,

A beloved daughter.
Nightshade.
Surety.
Artifice.

Cistus,

Clematis
Cockle,
Coltsfoot,

Vain

is

beauty without merit.

Justice shall be done you.

Folly.

Columbine,
Coreopsis,
Coriander,

Always

cheerful.

Hidden
Riches.
v. .

merit.

Corn,

Corn Flower,

Bluebottle.

Corn Poppy,
Cornelian Cherry,
Cowslip,
Crocus,

Poppy.
Continuance
Native grace
Youthfulness.
Ingratitude.
;

....

duration.
;

pensiveness.

Crowfoot,

Crown

Imperial,

....

Power.
Mourning.

Cypress,

TBAXSLATING A BOUQUET,

Dahlia

f
< I

My gratitude exceeds your cares

novelty.

Daisy (Garden),
Daisy (Single Field),
Dandelion,
Datura,
.
.

I share your feelings. I will think of

it.

Oracle.

Deceitful charms.

Dew

Plant,

Serenade.

Dittany of Crete,

....

Birth.

Dodder,

Meanness.

Ebony
Elder

Tree,

Blackness.

Eglantine,

Poetry.

Compassion.
Tears.
.

Elecampane,,

Enchanter's Nightshade,
Everlasting Everlasting Pea,

v.

Nightshade.

Always remembered.
Perpetual pleasure.

14*

162

DICTIONARY FOB

Fennel,

Force

strength.

Fern,
Filbert,

...

....
v.

Sincerity.

Hazel.
Elevation.

Fir,

Flax,

...
.

....
...

I feel your benefits.

Flos Adonis,

Painful recollections.

Forget-me-not,

Forget

me

not.

Four

o'clock,

......

Marvel of Peru.
Occupation.
Fire.

Foxglove
Fraxinella,

Fuchsia,

Taste

fragility.

Gentian,

Intrinsic worth.
. .

Geranium (Oak), Geranium (Rose),

Geranium
(Scarlet)

melancholy mind.

I prefer you.
Silliness.

Gillyflower

(Common),
.

Lasting beauty.

Gillyflower (Stock),

Promptness.

Goats' Rue,

....

Reason.

TRANSLATIXG A BOUQUET.
Gold Basket
Tranquillity.

163

Grape Vine,
Grass

Intemperance.
Utility.

Greek Valerian
Golden Rod,
Gorse, or Furze,

Rupture.

Encouragement.

....

Anger.

Harebell,

Retirement.

Hawthorn,
Hazel,
.

Hope.
.
.

Reconciliation

Heart's-ease,

Pansy.
.

Heath,

Solitude.

Heliotrope,

Intoxication
.

adore you.

Henbane,
Hibiscus,

Blemish;

fault.

Beauty

is vain.

HoDy,

Foresight.

Hollyhock,

Fecundity
. .

ambition.

Honesty,

Satin Flower.

Honeysuckle,

Bonds of love.
.

Hop,

Injustice.

Hornbeam,
Horse-chestnut,

Ornament.
Luxury.
Innocence.

Houstonia,

Hyacinth,

Benevolence.
.

Hydrangea,

Vain-glory; heartlessness.

164

DICTIONABT FOB

Ice Plant

Your looks
Privation.

freeze me.

Indian

Plum

Innocence,
Iris

Innocence.

(Common
(German),

Garden),

Message.

Iris

Flame.
Friendship.

Ivv,

Jasmine (White),
Jonquil
Juniper,

....

Amiability.

Desire.

Asylum

aid.

Laburnum,
Larch
Larkspur,

Pensive beauty.

Boldness; audacity.
Lightness;
levity.

TliAXSLATIXG A BOUQUET.
,.

16,

Laurel (American),
Laurel,

^
. .

fWcrds, though sweet, may dea

.

{
L

ceive.

Glory; victory.
1 die if neglected.

Laurestine,

Lavatera,

Sweet

disposition.

Lavender,

Mistrust.
.

Lemon,
Lettuce,
Lilac (Purple)
Lilac (White),

Prudence.
Coolness.
First emotion of love.

Youth.
. . . .

Lily (Water),
Lily (White)

Eloquence.

Majesty

purity.

Lily of the Valley

Return of happiness.

Linden, or Lime,
Liverwort,

....

Conjugal love.
Confidence.

Locust
Lucern,
Lupine,

Platonic love.
Life.

Dejection.

/^
Madder,
Magnolia,

Calumny.
Perseverance.
Discretion.

Maiden Hair,
Manchineel Tree

Falseness.
Rarity.

Mandrake,
Maple,

Reserve.

166
Marigold (Garden), Marigold (Rainy),
.

DICTIONARY FOR
Grief; chagrin.

storm.

Marigold and Cypress,

Despair.
Beneficence.
Timidity.

Marshmallow,

Marvel of Peru,
Mayflower,
. .

Welcome.

Meadow

Saf&on,
.

My best
. .

days are past.

[charms.

Mezereon,

Desii-e to please.-

Mignonette,
Milfoil

Your
War.

qualities

surpass

your

Milkweed,
Mistletoe,

Hope
I

in misery.

surmount everything.

Mock Orange,
Monkshood,
.
.

Uncertainty.

Treachery.

Morning Glory,
Moss,

Coquetry.

....
. .

Maternal love.

Mugwort,

Good luck
Wisdom.
Suspicion.

happiness.

Mulberry (Black),
Mulberiy (White),

I shall not survive you.

Mushroom,

Musk

Plant,

Weakness.
Love.

Myrtle,

....

Narcissus,

Egotism.
Patriotism.

Nasturtium,

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Nettle
Cruelty.
.

167

Nightshade (Enchanter's),

Sorcery.

Oak
Oleander
Olive,

Hospitality.

Beware.
Peace.
Chastity.

Orange Flower,
Orchis (Bee),

Error.
Skill.

Orchis (Spider),
Osier,

Frankness.
.

Osmunda,
Oxalis,

Reverie.

V.

Wood

sorrel.

Pansy,
Parsley

Thought.
Festivity.

Passion Flower
Patience,

Devotion
Patience.

faith.

Peach Blossom,
Peony,

am

your captive.

Ostentation.

168
Peppermint,
Periwinkle,

DICTIOSART FOB

Warmth

of feeling.

Sweet memories.

Phlox
Pimpernel,
Pine,

...

Our

hearts are united.

;

Rendezvous
Endurance.

change.

Pine-apple,

....

You
Pure

are perfect.
love.

Pink (Red),
Plane, or Platane,

....

Genius.

Plum Plum
(Indian),

Keep your

promises.

......
.
.

Indian Plum.

Plum (WUd),
Polemony
(Blue),
.

Independence.
w.

Greek Valerian.
Conceit

Pomegranate,

Pompion, or Pumpkin,
Poplar (Black),
Poplai- (White)

Crossness

coarseness.

...

Courage.

Time.
Consolation.
Sleep.

Poppy

(Corn),

Poppy (White),
Potato,

Benevolence.

Primrose,
Privet, or Prim,

Modest worth.
Prohibition.

Purple Scabious,

....

Mourning,

Queen
Quince

of the

Meadow,

Uselessness.

Temptation.

;.".

v^j^ay

ilf

I'uiiin.c--

ill

Tfjir

I'sni

PUBLISHED

BYDE

VRIES, IBARRA ETT, BOSTON,

TRANSLATING A BOVQVET.

16

Ranunculus (Garden),
Reeds,
Rest-harrow,

You

are radiant with charms.

Music.
Obstacle.

Rhododendron,

Agitation.
v.

Rose Acacia,
Rosebud,

Acacia.

Confession of love.

Rose (Cinnamon),

....
i.
.
.

Without pretension.
Snowball.

Rose (Guelder),

...

Rose (Hundred-leaved), Rose Leaf,

.

The Graces.
I never trouble.

Rose (Monthly), Rose (Moss), Rose (Musk),

.... ....
. . .

Beauty ever new.

Superior merit
;

voluptuousness.

Capricious beauty.

Rose (Red Damask), Rose (White), Rose (Wild

Single),

Love.
Silence.

Simplicity.
Iniidelity.
f !
I

Rose (Yellow),

Remembrance
revives me.

Rosemary
Rue,
Rush,
15

your presence

Disdain.
Docility.

170

DICTIONARY FOB

Saffron Crocus,

....

Do

not abuse me.

Sage,
Saint John's

Esteem.

Wort

Animosity.
Irony.

Saidonia,
Satin Flower,

Forgetfuluess.

Scratchweed,
Sensitive Plant,

Roughness.
Sensitiveness
;

modesty.

Serpent Cactus,

...._.
.
.

Horror.

Service Tree, or Sorb,

Prudence.
Naivete.

Silverweed,

...

Snapdragon,
Snowball,

Presumption.

Goodness.
Consolation
Fidelity.
v.
;

[sity.

Snowdrop,
SpeedweU,
Spider Orchis
Spindle Tree,
Spiraea,
v.

a friend in adver-

Orchis.

[heart.

Your charms

are graven on

my

Queen
Purity.

of the

Meadow.

Star of Bethlehem, Stock,

....
0. r.

Gillyflower.

Strawberry,
Succory,

Perfect excellence.

Chiccory.

Sumach
Sunflower,

Splendid misery. False riches.

v.

Sweet Basil

Basil.

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Sweet Brier
v.
.

171

Eglantine.

Sweet Pea,
Sweet Sultan,

....

Departure.

Happiness.
Finesse.

Sweet William,
Syringa,

Fraternal love.

Tare,
Teasel,
Thistle,

Vice.

Misanthropy.

...
.

...
.

Austerity.

Thorn Apple,
Thi-ift,

Disguise.

Sympathy.
Activity.
. .
.

Thyme,
Trailing Arbutus,
v.

Mayflower.
Resistance.

Tremella,

Tuberose
Tulip,

Voluptuousness.

....

...

Declaration of love.

Valerian (Common), Valerian (Red),

Accommodating
Facility.

disposition.

172

BICTIONAUr FOB
. .

Venus's Looking-glass,

Flattery.
Sensibility.

Verbena,
Veronica,

....
.
.

.v.
. .

Speedwell.

Vervain,

Enchantment.
I cling to thee.

Vetch,
Vine,
.

n.

Grape Vine.
Modesty.
Purity
;

Violet (Blue), Violet (White),

Virgin's Bower,
. . .

candor.

v.

Clematis.

Wall Flower,

Fidelity in misfortune.
Lily.

Water

Lily,

w.
.

Weeping Willow
Wheat,
.

Melancholy.

Wealth.
Lily.

White

Lily,

.
V.

White Mulberry, White Poplar,

White Poppy,

Mulberry.
Poplar.

B. V.

Poppy.
Rose.
Violet.

White Rose,
White
Violet,

V. V.
.

Whortleberry,

Treachery.

Wild Plum,
Wild Rose,

.
z).

Plum.
Rose.
Osier.

Willow (Basket),
Willow (Common),

.
.

Forsaken.

TSAXSZATIKG A BOUQUET.
Willow Herb
Windflower,
v.

173

Pretension.

Anemone.
Joy.

Wood

Sorrel,

Wormwood,

Absence.

Yarrow,

v.

Milfoil.

Yew,

Sadness.
v.

Yoke Elm,

Hornbeam.

Zinnia,

mourn yom-

absence.

15*

" I must

fill

up

this osier cage of ours

With

baleful
*

weeds and precious juiced flowers.

* * *

Many for many virtues excellent, None but for some, and yet all different,"
Shakspea/re.

" Flowers fresh in hue and

many

in their class,

Implore the pausing step, and with their dyes

Dance in the

soft breeze in a fairy

mass."
Byron.

(174)

E introduce under

this

head

a few plants, which, although

they have not a meaning assigned them as yet in Flora's

vocabulary, are
of mention
their
stiU

worthy
of or

on

account

beauty,

usefulness,

the allusions

made

to

them by various authors.

(175)

176

APPENDIX.

American,

or

False Cowslip.
signifies

Dodecatlieon media.

The name

twelve

divinities,

and the flower

is

so

beautiful that a botanist

might

well fable that the whole circle

it.

of the Grecian gods conspired to create

Another

plant, the
its

caWia palustris,

is

also called the

is

American

cowslip, but

more general name

marsh marigold.

It is a brilliant yellow

flower growing in wet places, but quite unlike our elegant

dodecatheon, which blooms a

little later.

Apples of Sodom. Solanum

nodovieum.

The famous
" Dead Sea fruits that tempt the eye, But turn to ashes on the lips,"

mentioned by Josephus, yet often regarded as fabulous, are

at
last

ascertained to

be a kind of purple egg-plant.

it,

An
while

insect usually punctures the skin of the fruit, causing

outwardly

fair,

to

gangrene and turn to dust within.

fleet chaplain,

In the

Diary of Henry Teonge, an English

in
is

he writes
Sea)

December, 1675,

" This country (around the

Dead

altogether unfruitfull, being all over full of stones, which

looke just like burnt syndurs.

there

And on some
to

low shrubbs

grow small round

things,
are

which are called apples, but no

look at; but

witt like them.

They

somewhat fayre

APPENDIX.
touch them, and they moulder boath for looks and smell."
all

177

to hlaok ashes, like soote,

Milton makes the fallen angels, changed to serpents, when

their penance
tree,

was aggravated by an image of the forbidden

pluck greedily
" The fruitage fair to sight, like that which grew Near that bituminous lake where Sodom flamed; This, more delusive, not the touch, but taste
Deceived; they, fondly thinking to allay Their appetite with gust, instead of fruit Chewed bitter ashes, which the offended taste With spattering noise rejected; oft they essayed.

Hunger and thirst constraining; drugged as oft. With hatefulest disrelish writhed their jaws, With soot and cinders filled; so oft they fell Into the same illusion.*'
Par. Lost, Book X,

Anun, IVakerobin, Wild Tmrmip, Jack-inthe-Falpit. Arum

macuZatum,

This curious plant, found blooming in

places, bears

May

in wet, shady

spikes
is

of scarlet berries late in the

said to

summer.
like

The name arum

come from

its leaves,

shaped

an arrow or dart.
juice, very acrid,

The
which

root,
is

when

fresh, contains a

milky

used in medicine as a stimulant.

The acrimony
heat,

is

dissipated

by drying and the application of

when

the substance of the root becomes a bland farina-

ceous matter resembling arrow-root.

Powdered

it is

said to

have a saponaceous

quality.

It is also

used by the Parisians,

under the name of cypress powder, as a cosmetic for the

skin.

178

APPENDIX.

JSelladoiuia, or l>eadly IViglitsliade,

It is called

Atr<ypa beUadouTM.

Atropa, from Atropos, the goddess of destiny, in

;

allusion to

its fatal effects

and belladonna, because the

fair

ladies of the Continent formerly

made

use of

it

as a cosmetic.

As

a medicine

it

has great repute

among
it

the homoeopathic

practitioners.

Sauvages supposes

to be the plant which

effects

produced such strange and dreadful

soldiers, during their retreat,

upon the Roman

under the command of Antony,

from the Parthians.

treacherously mixed

A
its

Scotch historian relates that the Scots

juice in the bread

and drink with which

the conditions of a tnice bound

them to supply the Danes.

They

were so intoxicated by

it

that the Scots killed the greater part

of them before they had recovered consciousness.

yille

Dr.

Wood-

quotes the passage in Shakspeare where Banquo says,

** Or have we eaten of the inenne root That takes the reason prisoner "
.'

Blaclcljerry.

Jiubus irivialis or villosus.

Pliny speaks of a " mulberry growing upon briers," by which

the blackberry
is

thought to be intended.

The

delicious flavor
it,

of this fruit, and the virtues of the cordial

made from

are

known

to every

good housekeeper

and the

plant, if attentively

examined, will be found very beautiful.

Although they may

be familiar, we cannot resist giving here the lines of Elliot.

AFPEKDIX,

TO THE BRAMBLE FLOWER.

"

Thy

fruit full well the

schoolboy knows.
I

Wild

brfimble of the brake

it

So put thou forth thy small white rose;

I love
for his sake.

Though woodbines
O'er
all

Thou Thy
For

flaunt and roses glow the fragrant bowers. need'st not be ashamed to show

satin-threaded flowers;

dull the eye, the heart is dull.

That cannot feel how fair, Amid all beauty beautiful. Thy tender blosHoms are

How delicate thy gauzy frill How rich thy branchy stem How soft thy voice when woods
And

are
1

still,

When
And

silent

thou sing'st hymns to them showers are falling slow,

'mid the general hush, sweet air lifts the little bough. Lone whispering through the bush The primrose to the grave is gone;

The hawthorn flower is dead. The violet by the mossed gray stone Hath laid her weary head;
But thou, wild bramble
In
all

back dost bring, thy beauteous power. The fresh, green days of life's fair spring, And boyhood's bloomy hour. Scorned bramble of the brake once more Thou bidd'st me be a boy. To gad with thee the woodlands o'er, In freedom and in joy."
! ;

"When Titania gives Bottom

iu charge to the fairies,

commands them

to

" Feed him with apricocks and dewberries."

Dewbemes

are the fruit of one species of the bramble

the rvhus ecesius, according to Brande.

180

APPENDIX.
Jihamvus caiharticus.
berries of the buckthorn,
in

Bnckthorn.

The juice from the

alum and gum
arabic,

mixed with
water colors.

makes the sap green used

These berries are a violent medicine, and have a very unpleasant

taste.

The bark produces a

fine

yellow dye.

Calceolaria.

There seems to be an
they are favorite
Chili

infinite

variety of calceolarias, and

florists' flowers.

They are

all

natives of

and Peru.

The name comes from

flowers.

calceolus, a slipper,

owing to the shape of the

Canary -tiird

Flo"ver.

Tropssolum peregrinum.

This graceful climber,

amarillos," also
and,
effect.

known

to the Spaniards as " pajaritos

It

comes from Peru.

slender

blossoms profusely,
a charming

twisted

around

columns, makes

Carrot.

Daucus

carota.

The
it

ancient Greeks seem to have cultivated the carrot, and

all

has appeared on the tables of

their
I.,

the civilized nations ever

botanist
to

since

time.

Parkinson, who was

King

James

tells

us that in his time ladies wore the delicate,

feathery leaves of the caiTot in their head-dresses, instead

of plumes.

APPENDIX.
Catalpa.
CaiaXpa cordifolia.

181

The name

catalpa
tree

is

of Indian origin.
similarly to

The showy
those
of the

flowers

of this elegant
chestnut.

grow

horse-

We

have but one species indigenous to America.

Clielidonium mnjus.

Celaudine, or STvallow "Wort.

This acrid plant was long considered a most effectual remedy

for jaundice.
It

was

also

recommended

for other diseases

little

but an eminent author says, "

We

have

doubt but that

;

the virtues of celandine have been greatly exaggerated

certain cases, however,

in

we should expect

to find

it

a useful
It
is

remedy, for

it

evidently possesses active powers."

roadside, and wherever the stem

grows
broken
all it

commonly along the

sends out a yellow, milky juice, which stains like iron rust
falls

upon.

The celandine which Wordsworth has complithis plant,

mented with a poem, was not

as the lesser celandine.

but a flower, known

{Ranunculus Jicaria.)

Ceutaiiry^.

Cliironea centaurea, or Erytlirxa centaurium,

"

Wormwood
To

aid digestion's sickly

and centaury their bitter juice powers refine."

Dodsley.

The centaur Chiron

foot with this plant
bitter that
it
;

is

said to have cured a

its

wound

in his

hence

name.

It is inodorous,
terroe,

but so

was

called

by the ancients /eZ

or gall of the

earth.

It

has antiseptic properties, and before the discovery

of the Peruvian bark, was in great esteem as a febrifuge.

Cbristmas Rose,

or

Slack Hellebore.
Italy.

Melleborus niger.

native

of Austria and

It

was introduced into

Britain in 1596,
in mild weather,

and
it

is

called the Christmas Rose, because,

usually blooms at the end of the year.

16

182 The blossom

is

APPENDIX.
very handsome, having five large white petals,

tipped with rose.

The root was used by the

ancients as a

remedy
ColFee.

for

madness.

Coffea araiica.

The

coffee berries,

which we roast to make a beverage, grow

twenty
feet high,

on an evergreen,

fifteen or

which

is

a native

of Arabia and Ethiopia.

scented.

The flowers are white and sweetis

The use

of coffee as a drink
It

said to have

begun

in Constantinople in 1554.

was used

in Marseilles in 1644.

The

first

coffee-house in Paris was established by an

in 1672
;

Armenian

named Pascal,
that he

but he met with so

it

little

encouragement

removed to London, where

1652.

had been previously

traveller,

'introduced in

According to a recent

Mr.

Palgrave,

we can never know

its

the real excellence of coffee

tiU

the nectar in

perfection

we go

to Arabia.

Cuckoo Sud,
Simply the old name for the buttercup.

]>eatzla.

Early in spring every greenhouse displays this pretty plant

covered with a profusion of white blossoms.
It is

a native of

China and Japan, and was called by Thunberg after John Deutz, a senator of Amsterdam, who furnished him with means
for exploring those oountiies.


APPENDIX.
183

iEnplirasyf or Eyebrigbt.

Euphrasia

oj

Milton wrote that,

" Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed

Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see."
Eyebright was foi-meily applied externally and taken internally, as a sovereign

remedy

for all affections of the eyes.

As

it is

clearly impossible that

one thing could cure so many

different diseases, arising

from various causes, endeavors have

been made to ascertain the real virtues of the plant.

result

The

seems to be, that

it

is

valuable in cases of weakness

of the eyes, produced by over-exertion, or in old age.

Fennel

Flo-^ver, Ljove in damaacetm.

a Mist, Ijady in tbe Green.

Nigella

The seeds of
nigella,

this curious flower

(which gave

it

the

name of

from

their blackness) are very

pungent in the East, and

184
are

APPENDIX.
used instead of pepper.

We

are

told

that they were

probably the cumin, to which our Lord alluded when re-

proving the Pharisees.

ruclisia-flo'wered Oooseberry.
liibes speciosum.

Among
is this feet,

the wonderful vegetable

It

productions of California

magnificent gooseberry.
is

grows to the height of

six

five

and

sometimes covered for

weeks with

brilliant
it

scarlet ilowers,

whose long, drooping stamens have caused

to receive the appellation of fuchsia-flowered.

Criaut Fennel.

Fenda
is

villoaa.

Prometheus

fabled to have brought

Its

fire

from heaven

in a

stalk of this plant.

stems grow ten or twelve feet high,

and contain a
for tinder.

pith, which, in the interior of Sicily, is stiU used

A Persian species of ferula produces the assqfcetida

of medicine.

Ground
This

jVnt, or ]i^artl> ]Viit.

Bunium bulbocastanum.
a.

is

an umbelliferous plant, with

root resembling a

chestnut.

Another kind of ground nut, the apios tuberosa,

or glycine apios, is

common

in America, and very nutritious.

in theii- simple diet.

The Indians made great use of them

APPElfDIX.

185

Hemlock. Conium macutatum and

Cicuta virosa.

Both the common hemlock and the water hemlock were

probably

known

to

the

ancients,

and

both are poisonous.

W'e are ignorant which kind was given to Socrates.

The

Greek and Arabian physicians were in the habit of using the

hemlock juice externally
for swellings

and pains in the

joints.
it

Baron Stoerck, among the moderns, has recommended

cancers, &c.

for

Horseradisb.
Horseradish
It is

CocMearia armoracia.
is

a most excellent and wholesome condiment.

a strong stimulant, and has sometimes been used in place

of mustard, in poultices.

sirup of this root is

an excellent

remedy

for hoarseness

and sore throat.

Dr. Withering says,

is

that an infusion of horseradish in

mUk

one of the safest

and best cosmetics.

Jerusalem Artlclioke.

3elianthus tuberosus.
is,

The word Jerusalem

in this case, a curious corruption

of the Italian girasole, turning to

the

sun.

It

is

a kind

16*

186

APPENDIX.

of sunflower, and was very

common

in old-fashioned gardens.

The

roots, about

the size of a potato, are

thought to resemble

artichokes in their taste.

Judas' Tree,

or Bed-toud.

Cercis canadensis.

The

brilliant clusters of

crimson flowers which adorn this

large heart-shaped leaves, render

tree in the spring,

it

and

its

a very attractive object.

A botanist

tells

us, " I have often

observed hundreds of the

common humble
There
is

bees lying dead

under these trees while in flower."

it

Its fatality to insects gives

the appellation of Judas' tree.

it.

also a tradition that

^

Judas hung himself upon

liadies' Slipper.

Cypripedinm.
varieties of this curious

great

many

and beautiful orchid

are found wild in America.

Some

are yellow,

some

white,

some

purple.

Iiady's

Smock.

Cardamine.
this

Frequent allusions to
English poets.

flower are

found in the early

the pure whiteness
It

The name was given from

of the flowers, in the variety most common.

was

also, for

the same reason, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and called

Our Lady's Flower.

Another name

is

Cuckoo-flower.

APPENDIX.

187

This family of plants

flowers
;

comprises

several

with handsome

as the scarlet lychnis, or

London
some

pride, the

ragged

robin, &c.

The cottony

leaves of

varieties

have been

used as substitutes for lamp-wicks.

Maijoram. Origanum

inUgare and Tiut^oranum.

is

The common wild marjoram

found

native

here; ,the

sweet marjoram, used in cookery, came originally from Portugal. This herb
is

supposed to be the amaracus of the ancient poets.

Thus Virgil:

^neid, Book
I., I.

" ubi mollis amaracus ilium FloribuB et dulci aspiraua complectitur umbra."
698.

And

Catullus:

'

Cinge tempora floribas Suave olentis amaraci."

Mountain Asb.
The Scotch
places the

Pyrus aucuparia, and Sorbus americana.

this
brilliant
its

call

tree

the rowan.

In some

peasantry use

branches to avert witchcraft.

The elegant

clusters of orange-red berries

which succeed the

it

white flowers,

and the handsome pinnate leaves, render

ornaments to
a
shrubbery.

one

of

the

greatest

Words-

worth, in the Excursion, speaks of

188

APPENDIX.
" file mountain ash eye can overlook, when 'mid a g:rove or yet imfaded trees she lilts her head, Decked witli autumnal berries that outshine
Spring's richest blossoms
;

No

'

and ye

may have marked,

By

a brook-side or solitary tarn,

How

she her station doth adorn ;

the pool

Glows at her feet, and all the gloomy rocks Are brightened round her."
JUulleiu. Verbascum thapsus.
is

Every reader

probablj' familiar with the white,

slightly fragrant yellow flowers,

soft,

downy

leaves,

and

crowded
the

together
mullein.
is

on a

large,

clumsy

stalk,

which

distinguish

It is emollient

and gently astringent, and great use

made of the

leaves in the country for fomentations and

calls
it

cataplasms.

Gerarde

" Cow's Lungwort," as

it

was

thought to be of great use in pulmonary complaints of

cattle.

One

species of mullein

is

said to be a strong anodyne, and

to intoxicate fish.

Onion. Allium
There
esteemed
says,
is

cepa.

evidence to show that the onion was

known and
Rhind

in

Egypt two thousand years before

in a

Christ.

" Hasselquist,

panegyric on the exquisite flavor

it

of the Egyptian onion, remarks that

Israelites, after

is

no wonder the

they had quitted their place of bondage, should

the
loss

have
divide

regretted

of

this

delicacy.

The Egyptians

them

into four parts,

and eat them roasted together

APPENDIX.
with pieces of meat;
delicious

89

which preparation they consider so

it

that they devoutly wish

may form one

warm

of the
are

viands

of

Paradise."

The

onions of

countries

immeasurably superior to those of colder climes, being larger

and

milder

in

flavor.

This

vegetable

possesses

healing

qualities,

and many a mother can

testify to the

efficacy of

onion sirup.

Petunia.

The

diflferent varieties

of this

showy
to us

flower, so ornamental

in the house or garden,

come

from South America

They

are annuals out of doors, but perennial under shelter.

Purple XiOosestrUe.

Ltjihrum sallcaria.

In July, around the edge of wet meadows, we find a

tall

plant with long, loose spikes of very delicate and brilliant

flowers.

The

color
it

is

a fine purple, tinged with red, which

has obtained for

is

in

some

places the

name

oi fireweed.

This
it

the purple loosestrife.

Transplanted to the garden,

is

a fine perennial border flower.

190

APPENDIX.

Rice.

Oryza

Rice was cultivated from the earliest times in Asia and

Africa.
Its introduction into

America

is

of very modern date.

at

According

to

one account, Mr. Ashby, an English merchant,

the close of the

seventeenth century, sent a hundred weight

all

of rice from India to Carolina, which was the seed of

future harvests.

the

Another authority says, "

A brigantine

from

the island of Madagascar, happened to put in at Carolina, having

little

seed rice

left,

which the captain gave to a gentleman of

the

name of Woodward.
was ignorant

From

part of this he had a very good

to clean
it.

crop, but

for

some years how

It

was

soon dispersed over the province, and by frequent experiments

and observations, they found out ways of producing and manufactui-ing

it

to so great perfection, that

it is

thought to exceed

any other

"in

value.

The

writer of this

has seen the said

captain in Carolina, where he received a handsome gratuity

from the gentlemen of that country, in acknowledgment of the

service he

had done the

province.''

On

the Importance of the British Plantations in America.

{London, 1701.)


APPENDIX.

.191

Samphire.

Crithmum maritimum, and Salicornia

of these
is

herbacea.

The

first

the English samphire

sea-coast,

the second the

American.
pickles.

Both grow on the

is

and are used as

The salicornia

also

found in great quantities on

its

the coast of the Mediterranean, where

the manufacture of soda.

ashes are used in

is

The word samphire

a corrup-

tion of the French Saint Pierre.

On Dover

heights

Edgar

exclaims to Gloster,
" stand
still.

Howthat

fearful
I

And

dizzy

'tis

to cast one's eyes so

The crows and choughs,

Show

scarce so gross as

low wing the midway air. beetles. Half way down

Hangs one

that gathers samphire dreadful trade Methiuks he seems no bigger than his head."

Sassafi'as.

Laurus

sassafi'as.

This fragrant shrub or tree Ijecame

known
at

to the old

world
prices

on the discovery of Florida, and was sold

enormous

when

first

introduced into Europe, on account of the great

attributed to
it.

medicinal virtues

It

was cultivated
is still it is

in

Engfor

land before 1633.

tincture of the bark

in

vogue

the cure of rheumatism, gout, &c., though

in a combination with sarsaparilla.

generally used

192.

APPENDIX.
senega, and Aristolo~

Snakeroot, Seneca and Virginia. Polygala cMa serpentaria.

Very dangerous consequences have sometimes ensued from

confounding these two plants.
Dr. Tennent
first

called the

attention of physicians to the fact that the Indians possessed

a specific for the bite of the rattlesnake, which was ascertained

to be the

Seneca snakeroot.

It is also prescribed in pleurisy

is

and dropsy.
a

The Virginia snakeroot

likewise considered

remedy

for the bites of serpents.

It is strongly aromatic,

and

was

at one time thought to

;

be of marvellous
in

efficacy in various

diseases

but

its

fame has declined

modern

practice.

Solomon's Seal.

Convallaria hi/oUa, racemosa, mutiijtora, &c.

seal

The name of Solomon's

certain

was given on account of

varieties

marks on the

root.

There are many

of

it

found in the spring in shady woods.

The mucilaginous

roots

make an

excellent poultice for tumors, bruises, &c.

says, "

Old Gerarde
while
it

The root of Solomon's

and

seal,

stamped,
in one

is

fresh and greene,

applied, taketh

away

night, or

two
fals,

at the

most, any bruse, black or blew spots

in

gotten by

or

woman's wilfulness
or such
like.''

stumbling upon their

hasty husband's

fists,

Sugar-cane.

Saccharum

officinarum,.

Sugar, like that which appears every day upon our tables,

seems to have been a luxury unknown to the old Greeks and

Romans, though some have thought they found an

to
it

allusion
priceless

in Theophrastus.

Father Hennepin found this

cane growing near the mouth of the Mississippi, and Ximenes

mentions that

it

grew wild near the Rio de

la Plata.
ai-e

The
said

plants introduced from Java, Isle of Bourbon, &c.,

APPENDIX.
to

193
Before the Indies were

be superior to the native variety.

discovered, sugar was

made

in considerable quantities in the

islands of Sicily, Crete, Rhodes,

and Cyprus, where

it

was

supposed to have been carried by the Saracens.

Snude^v, Drosera.

The word drosera means dewy.

in the

It is

found in blossom

late

summer, in moist gi-ound.

'

In Crabbe's

Borough,

streets and sylvan walks between Fen, marshes, bog, and heath, all intervene; Here pits of crag, -svith spongy, plashy base,

Our busy

To some

enrich th' uncultivated space;

For there are blossoms rare, and curious rush. The gale's rich balm, and sundew's crimson blush,

Whose velvet leaf, with radiant beauty dressed. Forms a gay pillow for the plover's breast."

Tansy.

Taruicetum vulgare and crispum.

The French

anciently called this plant by the

name

of

Athanasie, which became by corruption tansy.

leaves are not destitute of beauty,

The

curled

and send forth a strong but

iatense bitterness,
it

pleasant odor.

On

account of

its

was

formerly eaten in puddings and otherwise at Easter, to symbolize the bitter herbs which the
at the Passover.

Jews were commanded

to eat

17

194
Tea.
Thm,
is

APPESBIX.
viridis

and bohea. shrub, belonging to the

Tea

small evergreen

same

family as the camellia.

to foreigners,

Owing

to the Chinese policy in regard

little
;

we know very
the

about the plant, or the

as

method of preparing

leaves

one

may

ascertain

by

reading various elaborate accounts, which are very far from

agreeing with one
another.
It

was

first

introduced

into

England, in 1666, from Holland, and sold at a very high

price.
it

In view of the present enormous consumption of

a curious question what people drank before
it

tea,

is

came

into use.

Thorn Apple, Apple of Pern,

stramonium.

or

Jamestown

TVeed. Datura

Almost every one must know

as a violent narcotic poison.

this peculiar looking plant

Even
The

the odor of

it is it

said to

induce dizziness and stupor.

Yet, in skilful hands,

old

proves

a most valuable medicine.

ently

Greek physicians apparit

knew

its

properties

and in our time

is

is

used in

epilepsy

and mania.

The root
is

smoked

for asthma, and

an extract of the leaves

inflamed tumors.

sometimes applied to burns and

Such dangerous remedies, however, should

be given only by physicians.

Toad Flax. AntirrMnum

Hnaria.

common

flower in summer, with rather fine bluish leaves,

like those of its brother,
it

and yellow and orange flowers, shaped

the snapdragon.

Country people give

Linnseus says
plants,
it it

the descriptive

name
flies.

of butter-and-eggs.

was used to poison

Like

many common

has healing virtues.

An

infu-

sion of the flowers

is

highly recommended for skin diseases,

APPENDIX.
and the leaves
in in dropsy.

195
flowers are used

Both leaves and

poultices.

compounding ointments and

Tobacco, Nicotiana tdbacum.

Tobacco was
imported
into

Spain

ana Portugal from

America, by Hernandez de Toledo, about the middle of the

sixteenth century.
Nicot, .who was

ambassador of France

at Lisbon, carried it to Catherine de Mddicis, in 1560, as a

plant possessing wonderful virtues.

The generic name was

is

given in his honor

and the English name, tobacco,

either

from Tobago
or, as

in

the

West

Indies,

or

Tobasco in Mexico,

one authority says, from a South American word for a

In
its

pipe.

spite

of the

hundred or more volumes written

against
still

use, smoking, and,

we

regret to say, chewing, are

practised,

though snuff-taking seems to have gone out of

fashion, except with a few old

women.
'juice of cursed

Burnett says,

"It

is

supposed that the

to

hebenon,' by which, according

Shakspeare, the king of

essential oil of tobacco."

Denmark was
tinues, "

poisoned, was the

Hebenon undoubtedly meant hevhane, and

it

as our author con-

appears from Gerarde that tobacco was commonly

called

'henbane of Peru.'

No

preparation of hyoscyamus

with which

we

are acquainted, would produce death

;

by an

application to the ear

whereas the essential oE of tobacco

fatal result.''

might without doubt occasion a

Trumpet

ITlo-wer.

Bignonia radicans.
this
brilliant

The elegant climbing plant which produces

flower
is

the pride of southern gardens, though rarely seen

at the north.

The name Bignonia

is

in honor of the

Abb6

Bignon.

196
Tulip Tree.

APPENDIX.
Jjiriodendron tuUpifera.

A
and

magnificent flowering tree,

known

also

as

white-wood
in

canon-wood,
in

which

surpasses

almost

every other

America

height as well as beauty.

The

flowers are fragrant,

and the bark, which has an aromatic odor, has been used as a
tonic and febrifuge.

The wood

is

valuable for

many

purposes.

The name

liriodendron signifies a

lily tree.

PJBLISHED B7 DE VRIESJEAERA EF

f:^

BOSTON.

HE

air

of

cities,

heavy with
exhalaflowers
;

smoke

and

poisonous

tions, is fatal to

many

and

all

true

poets

have sung
life.

the charms of country

Cowley prayed,
" Ah, yet, ere I descend to the grave.

May

I a small house

and

large garden

have "
!

X7*

(197;

198

APPENDIX.
longingly cried,
"

And

fields,

O woods when, when shall I he made The happy tenant of your shade ?

Here's the spring-head of Pleasure's flood.

Where all the riches lie, that she Has coined and stamped for good."

Anne, Countess of Winchelsea,

" Give

sings,

me,

indulgent Fate,
yet, before I die,

Give

me

sweet but absolute retreat

'Mong paths
That the world

so lost

and

trees so high.

may

ne'er invade.

Through such windings and such shade.

My

unshaken

liberty.

Fruits indeed

would Heaven bestow.

All that did in

Eden grow.

All but the forbidden tree

"Would be coveted by me:

Grapes with juice so crowded up,

As breaking through

the native cup;

Figs yet growing, candied o'er

By

the sun's attracting power

CheiTies, with the

downy peach,

All within

my

easy reach

While creeping near the humble ground

Should the sti'awberiy be found.
Springing wheresoe'er I strayed

Through those windings and

that shade."

APPENDIX.

199

We

find

Pope

writing, at a very early age,

" Happy the man, whose wish and care

few paternal acres hound,

air

Content to breathe his native

In

his

own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with Whose flocks supply him with attire; Whose
trees in

bread.

summer

yield

him

shade,

In winter

fire.

Blessed

who can unconcernedly

find

Hours, days, and years, slide soft away,

In health of body, peace of mind,

Quiet by day,

Sound

sleep

by

night

study and ease

Together mixed, sweet recreation,

And

innocence, which most does please

With meditation."

A poem by Warton runs

"

as follows

On beds

of daisies idly
o'er

laid,

The willow waving

my

head.

Now

morning on the bending stem

glittering

Hangs the round and

Of

gem.

Lulled by the lapse of yonder spring.

nature's various charms I sing

Ambition, pride, and pomp, adieu.

For what has joy to do with you

;;

200

APPENDIX.
Joy, rose-lipped dryad, loves to dwell

In sunny

field

or

mossy

cell

Delights on echoing hills to hear

The

reaper's song, or lowing steer.

Or view, with tenfold plenty spread,

The crowded
While beauty,

cornfield,

blooming mead;

health,

and innocence

Transport the eye, the soul, the sense.

Nymphs
Conduct

of the gi-oves, in green arrayed,

me

to

your thickest shade.

vale,

Deep

in the

bosom of the

Where haunts the lonesome Where Contemplation, maid

Wrapped
Her
in

nightingale
divine.

Leans against some aged pine,

solemn thought profound,

eyes fixed steadfast on the ground.

0, Virtue's nurse, retired queen.

By

saints alone

and hermits seen.

Beyond- vain mortal wishes wise.

Teach

me

St.

James's to despise

For what are crowded courts but schools

For
fops, or hospitals for fools
?

Where
Meet

slaves

and madmen, young and

old,

to adore

some

calf of gold

"
!

In a similar strain Dyer says,

"

will
skill

Be

full,

ye courts, be great who

all

Search for Peace with

your

Open wide the

lofty door,
floor
;

Seek her on the marble

;; ;

" ;
!

APPENDIX.
In vain you search
;

201
not there

she

is

In vain you search the domes of Care

Grass and flowers Quiet treads,

On

the

meads and mountain-heads

close allied.

Along with Pleasure,

Ever by each

other's side."

But perhaps one of

is

tlie

best

things of this kind

Cunningham's Town and Country Child.

He

be-

gins,

" Child of the country

!

free as air
fan-

Art thou, and as the sunshine

Bom

like the lily,

where the dew

the day
is

Lies odorous

when

new

Fed 'mid
Nursed

the May-flowers, like the bee

to sweet

music on the knee

Lulled on the breast to that glad tune

Which winds make 'mong

I sing

the

woods of June

of thee
fair

'tis

sweet to sing
thing.

Of such a

and gladsome

Child of the town, for thee I sigh

A A A

gilded roof's thy golden sky,

carpet
is

thy daisied sod,

thy boundless road. * * *
trellised vines

naiTow

street

Through smoke, and not through

And blooming
Else
is

trees,

thy sunbeam shines

;

I sing of thee in sadness

where
fair
?

wreck wrought in aught so

202

APPENDIX.
ends,

And

" Fly from the town, sweet child

Is happiness,

for health

and

strength,

and wealth.

There

is

a lesson in each flower,

story in each stream

and bower

On

every herb on which you tread

rightly read,

Are written words, which,

Will lead you from earth's fragrant sod

To

hope, and holiness, and God."

r we should begin to expatiate on

the subject of gardens,
difficult
it

would be
Thomas.

to stop

for, as Sir

Browne has
before

said,

" Gardens were

gardeners,

and but
;

a few

hours after the earth " and from

the
earliest

days

descriptions,

in

prose and verse, of gardens real or imaginary, have

come down

to us.

We

shall

confine ourselves, then,

(203)

204

APPENDIX.

'

to three descriptions, not so

hackneyed as many others

The

first is

from Giles Fletcher.

" All suddenly the

Iiill

his

snow devours,

In lieu whereof a goodly garden grew,

As

if

the

snow had melted

about perfumed

into flowers,

Wliich their sweet breath in subtle vapors threw.

That

all

spirits flew.

For whatsoever might aggrate the

In
all
it

sense,

the world, or please the appetence,

Here

was poured out

in lavish affluence.

The garden
That lay as

like
if

a lady

fair

was

cut,

she slumbered

delight.

And

to the open skies her eyes did shut

fields

The azure The

of heaven were sembled right

In a large round, set with the flowers of light

flowers-de-luce,

and the round sparks of dew

That hung upon

Like twinkling

their azure leaves, did

shew

stars, that

sparkle in the evening blue.

Upon a. hilly bank her head she cast. On which the bower of Vain-delight was
White and red

built.

roses for her face were placed.

And for her tresses marigolds were spilt; Them broadly she displayed, hke flaming
Till in the

gilt.

ocean the glad day were drowned

Then up again her yellow locks she wound.

And

with green

fillets

in their pretty cauls

them bound.'

APPENDIX.

205

The next
"

is

from Langhorne
(for

bower he framed

he conld frame

What

long might weary mortal wight,

Swift as the lightning's rapid flame

Darts on the unsuspecting sight).

Such bower he framed with magic hand,

As

well that wizard bard hath

fair

wove

In scenes where

Armida's wand

Waved

all

the witcheries of love.

Yet was

it

wrought in simple show

Orient shores

Xor Indian mines nor

Had

lent their glories here to glow,

their shining stores.

Or yielded here

All round a poplar's trembling arms

The wild

rose

wound her damask

flower

The woodbine

lent her spicy charms,

lover's bower.

That loves to weave the

The ash
In
all

that courts the mountain

air.

her painted blooms arrayed.

fair,

The

wilding's blossom blushing

to

Combined

form the flowery shade.

With thyme

that loves the

brown

hill's breast.

The The

cowslip's sweet reclining head,

violet of
all

sky-woven

vest.

Was

the fairy ground bespread."

18

;!

206

APPENDIX.
Marvell's
exquisite

Andrew

Garden comes
the
last

last,

unabridged,

though

we think

stanza but

one contains a heresy against

truth.

THE GARDEN.
"

How
And

vainly

men

themselves amaze

To win

the palm, the oak, or bays.

their incessant labors see

Crowned from some

Does prxidently

single herb or tree,

"Whose short and narrow-verged shade

their toils upbraid

While

all

the flowers

and

trees

do

close,

To weave

the garlands of repose.

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,

And

Innocence, thy

sister

dear

Mistaken long, I sought you then

In busy companies of men.

Your

sacred plants,

if

here below.
will

Only among the plants

Society
is all

grow

but rude

To

this delicious solitude.

No

white nor red was ever seen

as this lovely green.

So amorous

Tond
Cut

lovers, cruel as their flame.

in these trees their mistress'

!

name

Little, alas

they

know

or heed

How

far these beauties her

!

exceed

Fair trees

where'er your barks I wound.

No name

shall but

your own be found.

; ;

APPENDIX.

207
heat,

When we
The
gods,

have run our passion's

Love hither malces

his heat retreat.

who

mortal beauty chase,

Still in

a tree did end their race.

so,

Apollo hunted Daphne

Only that she might laurel grow;

And Pan
Not
as a

did after Syrinx speed,

nymph, but

for a reed.

What wondrous
The

life is this

I lead

Ripe apples drop about

my

head

luscious clusters of the vine

Upon my mouth do crush their wine The nectarine, and curious peach,
Into

my

hands themselves do reach

Stumbling on melons, as I pass

Insnared with flowers, I
fall

on

grass.

Meanwhile the mind from pleasure

less

Withdraws

into

its

happiness;

The mind,
Does

that ocean

where each kind

resemblance find

straight its

own

Yet

it

creates, transcending these.

seas.

Far other worlds and other

Annihilating
all that's

made

To a green thought

in a green shade.

Here

at the fountain's sliding foot.

Or

at

some

fruit tree's

mossy

root.

Casting the body's vest aside,

My

soul into the boughs does glide

! ;

"

208

APPENDIX.
There, like a bird,
it sits

and

sings.

Then whets and

claps

its

silver wings,
flight.

And till prepared for Waves in its plumes

longer

the various light.

Such was the happy garden

state.
a,

While man there walked without

After a place so pure and sweet,

mate:

What

other help could yet be meet

a,

But 'twas beyond

mortal's share

To wander

solitary there

Two
To

paradises are in one.

live in paradise alone.

How
Of

well the skilful gardener drew

flowers

and herbs

this dial

new

Where from above

Does through
a,

the milder sun

fragrant zodiac run

th' industrious

And,

as

it

works,
its

bee

Computes

time as well as we.

How

could such sweet and wholesome hours

flowers
?

Be reckoned, but with herbs and

&r(3^iyf^S-S^

Anemone (Windflower),
Angelica,

Appendix
Page
Acanthus,
Aconlto,
25
150

Apple of Pern,

Apples of Sodom,
April,

AgnuB CaBtus,
Agrimony,

...
.
.

84
12.3

Artichoke, Jerusalem,

Anim,
Ash,
Ash, Mountain,
Asphodel,

A Heap of Flowers,
Almond,
Aloe,

76
19

...
.

84 71
138

Amaranth,
Amaryllis,

...
.
.

....
.

Aster, China or German,

Aster, Large-flowered,

American Cowslip,

176 126

August,

Anemone, Garden,

...

Autumn
(209)

18*-

210

INDEX.
Darnel,
.

ill

Fern,

148
189

Datura,

Firewced,
132 77 182 179
.

Dead Leaves,
December,
Deutzia,
.

Flax,

126 95 52

Floral Games,

Flos Adonis,
Forget-me-not,
..

Dewberries,

60 69
134

Dew

Plant,

145

Four o'clock,
Foxglove,
.

Dictionary of the Language

of Flowers,

Fragrant Coltsfoot,
Fraxinella,
157
..
.

70
120

Dictionary for Translating

Bouquet,
Directions,

Fringed Gentian,
Fuchsia,

128 148

.^
.

101

Dittany of Crete,

..
.

109 132

Fuchsia-Flowered Gooseberry, 181

Furze,
. . .

Dodder,

...

106

Eglantine,
Elder,

45

Gardens,

202
.
.

Elecampane,
Endive,

....
.

.111
148 122
183

Garland of Julia,

99 70 120 128

Geranium, Scarlet,

German
Gentian,

Iris

Euphrasy, or Eyebright,

....
.
.

Giant Fennel,
Gillyflower,
.

.184
.

Goat's Eue,

Gold Basket,

Golden Rod,

..... .... ....

...

54
140 150

117
184

Gooseberry ,Fuchsia-FIowercd,
Gorse, February,
Fennel,

106 128
17

......
....
...
.

86
147
184

Grape,
Grasses,

Fennel, Giant,

Greek Valerian,

145
184

Fennel Flower,

183

Ground Nut,

....

21-2

INDEX.

Harebell,

INDEX.
Lavatera,

213

214

INDEX.

Pansy

INDEX.
Scarlet Lychnis,
187
111

215
34

Thyme
Toad Flax,
Tobacco,

Scarlet Pimpernel,

September,

60 77
154

...
. . .

194

.195
.

Service Tree,

Trailing Arbutus,

153

Sheep Lanrel,
Snakeroot, Seneca and Virginla,
.

TremeUa,

143
.

Trumpet Flower,
Tuberose
Tulip,
192

195
61 20 196

Snowdrop,
Splomon's
Speedwell,

Seal,
.

Tulip Tree,

119 146
155

Spider Orchis,

Spindle Tree,
Spiraea,
.

151
.

Spring,

17
33

Strawberry,
Succory,

122

Valerian,

.35
. .

Sngar-Cane,

192

Venus' Looking-Glass,
30
193

120 145 119

Summer,
Sundew,
Sunflower,
.

Verbena
Veronica,

63

Vervain,

50 92

Sweet Basil,

124

Violet,

Sweet Brier,
Sweet Mai;ioram, Sweet Pea,
.

45
187

Virgin's Bower,

...

107

113
124

Sweet Sultan,
Syringa,

121

Wallflower,

Tansy,
Tares,

193

51

Tea,

Thorn Apple,

....

194 194

216
White
White
Lilac,

INDEX.
156

Windflower,
Winter,

....

113

Lily,

53
160
146

77

White Poplar,
White Poppy,

White Bose,
Whortleberry,

43
150
127
177 IS

Wild Plum, Wild Turnip,

Willow,

Yarrow,

153
.

Willow Herb,

138

Yew,