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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924067946966

THE

EDITED BY

MISS ILDREWE.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM

THOMAS MILLER.
gllnsttattb

bg

(ffolBrib

^latts, snir |tnnwroBS ffiSaobrttts, after

GUSTAVB DOb, DAUBIQNT, TIHUB, AND OTHERS.

BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.

NE"W YORK:
LEE,

SHEPARD AND DILLINGHAM.

Eatcred, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S65,

DE
Ii:

VBIES,

IBAKBA &

by

CO.,

the CIcrk'B Olfice of the District Court of the District of MassachuBetts.

ILBOTROTT P KD AT TDB

BOSTON BTEREOTYPB FOUHDRT^

No. 4 Bpring

Luifl.

TO THE READER.
VACANCY seems

to

exist in

the litera-

ture of the present day, which this book,

it is

hoped,

may

help to

fill.

There

is

no English work on the Language of

Flowers wliich

no foreign one,

which

is

is

at all satisfactory,

as far as

we

and

are aware,

either sufficiently complete, or

exactly adapted to American wants.

The

editor has consulted all the flower books

1

(5)

TO THE READER.

known

and German, and believes

to her in English, French,

will be found to contain a more ^copious dictionary, and

this

more appropriate

descriptions, than

any of

It is designed for all parts of the

.

are disappointed in not finding here

its

predecessors.

United States

some

they must remember that this charming language

perfected,

but if any

flowers they seek,

is

not yet

and we have been unwilling to attach arbitrary and

unauthorized meanings to
certainly deserve

many

of our native blossoms which

and convey a sentiment as well

as their older

foreign sisters.

Where

authorities

differed

in regard to signification,

most correct has been carefully sought out; and in some

stances,

The

the
in-

where two seemed equally good, both are given.

quotations from English authors

(to

say nothing of

Latin and other languages) might have been multiplied, and

a very large volume written on this delightful subject

who

is

ever tired of rambling

among

flowers?

But

necessary to keep the volume of a convenient size

must be our excuse

for rejecting

for

it

was

and this

much which some may

expect to find.

Trusting that any omissions or inaccuracies

indulgence,

not to the tender mercies of the

of all

who

may meet witb

we commend our new "Language of Flowers,"

love flowers.

December,

1865.

critics,

but to the attention

Il^TRODTJCTIO]^.

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
its

Love

that

first

and the gen-

wind that ever tried

way through vast realms

flapped

forests,

its

wings,

of sleeping fragrance,

set out to discover the long lost

guage of the Flowers.

Lan-

For there had been rumors

in

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

first

daughters

left their

watch beside the star^beaconed

(7)

INTRODUCTION.

battlements of Heaven, and gave up

the

heart

of

woman,

the

all

their glory for

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

immortal language never could die

it still

slept

that an

that, although silent,

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

him onward

to

his heart,

commence

that language, which

which ever seemed urging

and discover

his holy mission,

had been

lost ever since the

day

when Eve went weeping from the angel-guarded gates

of Eden.

Love arose and shook the rounded dew

in loosened

pearls from the feathery silver of his wings, and soared

far

away over many a

and

hill

valley, alighting

when

weary, and kneeling lowly, with attentive ear and bowed

but as yet he had

head, beside the blossoms

learned what the bees said

when they hung nmrmuring

only

over the honeyed bells, and what words the butterflies

whispered as they alighted upon the flowers with subsiding wings.

Onward wandered Love

for

many

a day;

although he caught the faint breathing of the blossoms,

INTRODUCTION.

yet the meaning of their lowest words was

mystery.

At

last,

weary and sad

and wept upon a hed of roses.

er's favorite flower

it

still

at heart,

him a

to

he sat down

The rose was

moth-

his

had ever been sacred

to

Venus,

and he heard a sound as of low sighing amongst

leaves

and when he lay down, he

petals falling

upon

his lips

catch the tears that

fell

felt

and around

and then

kissed the Rose and blessed

it

it

the drooping

his neck, as if to

was that Love

upon

Jove selected her

his lips, she told

for the

And

him

that ages ago

Queen of Flowers and the

Goddess of Beauty; that nothing human had ever

passed her charms

first

sur-

and that when every image of

poetry was exhausted, none could equal her

from the

first

unawares, for the sweet-

ness and beauty of the flower sank into his heart.

whilst folded

its

creation of flowers,

own

that,

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

never
full

knew

that she

old age, but sank to sleep in perfume, in the

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

INTItODUCTIOHr.

10
the flowers, giving

a bell
its

bowed or

sister the
;

until not

bud expanded, nor a blossom opened

Love knowing every word

beautiful lips, without

it

For days did Love linger with his sweet

whispered.

age

him a new lesson every day,

Rose, before he again set out on his pilgrim-

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

had discovered, and many a day did he

sit

pondering to

himself, as if hesitating whether or not he should trust

Woman

" She

with the secret.

already armed with

is

beauty," reasoned Love, as he sat with his elbow pil-

lowed on a bed of flowers

eyes,

" there

is

a language in her

and a sweet music in her voice, and

teach, her to converse through flowers

to the rose,

and a voice to the

lily,

shall 1

now

to give a tongue

and hang upon the

honeysuckle words of love, and turn every blossom she

gathers into

again

fly

language of

afi"eotion

No

I wiU

abroad, and dropping a bud here and a beU

there, see to
secrets.

the

what purpose she turneth these beautiful

I will but at

new Alphabet

first

teach her a few letters in this

of Love."

Then he thought

that as the flowers were such holy

things, born of beauty

and nursed

in purity, fed

upon

INTRODUCTION.

11

the dews, and seldom looking upon aught less sacred

than the

stars, as

than

earth

to

they were more allied to heaven

if

that

the

if

virtue,

and goodness,

and love, which they represent, were hut practised by

mankind, they would again make the children of earth

what they were in the infancy of the world, and man would
again be found only " a

lower than the angels."

little

Ages passed away before Love entered the flowery

fields

and velvet valleys of merry England

had long been

cared not

light,

now

into

and

his wings

his heart

unfettered, and he

what quarter of the world he wan-

dered, for he found that wherever he went upon his

man grew more

flowery errand,

day bore a closer resemblance

ancient

castles,

refined,

and woman each

to the angels.

and humble

hamlets,

He

visited

and thronged

thorpes, and thatched granges, and taught everywhere

this

new language of

If he

love.

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,

bade her Hope.

As

he whispered into her ear and

his foot dashed

away the dew from

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

threw

it

at

moment dated

her unsuspecting lover, who from that

his first emotions of Love.

out the spot where

there they met, and

many

He

pointed

a blue-belled flower grew, and

vowed

to

be Constant unto death.

INTBODVCTION.

12

So he wandered along

and on wild moorlands, where

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

Love

solitude.

cerity;

on bleak mountain-tops, where scarce a tree

threw down
bell

the broad Fern as a token of Sin-

left

its

checkered shadow, he planted the Hare-

and the crimson Heather, to give a charm to Retire-

ment and
woods he

Solitude.

Into the depths of the loneliest

went,' visiting deep dells

where the graceful

Lilies

and deserted dingles,

of the "Valley grew, telling

them they were not forgotten, but should yet be proudly

worn on many a fond breast that sighed
Happiness.

it

Return of

Beside the Marigold, which closed

that, whilst ever the

eyes

golden star shone there,

From

should be the image of Joys to Come.

flower he flew on his peaceful pilgrimage

reconciling lovers

bringing back

its

Sorrow, he planted the Celandine, and

as if for very

promised

for a

who

many

ha,d

long been

flower to

through them

estranged, and

a wandering affection that had long

sighed for a fond heart to dwell within.

Thus Love restored a language which

centuries

had been

lost

which

woman had made music

early world was

Time had

all

for undated

the sweet tongue of

of before the beauty of the

submerged beneath the waters.

that there ever existed a language between

the Flowers.

For

but blotted out the few records which told

Love and

INTBODUCTIOir.

Amid

the broken

and crumbling ruins over which

Time has marched, he has only

some

of

capital

which we

column

pedestal,

a hundred

some

rude

in

hiero-

flower, which

or to

sacred to their religion

sculptured

the

left

shattered

or

among

can trace,

glyphics, the rough outline of

either

13

their love.

was
In

the ruins of temples, whose origin even antiquity has

forgotten,

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

the

is

to

the holy shrine with flowers

piled high with

to sacrifice

and

we

they garland

moved

since that procession

shadows of two thousand years have settled

the

the hills and valleys where those beautiful

down over
maidens
has

know no more.

Ages have passed away

them

neck of the victim which their priests are about

left

first

gathered the flowers of summer

their existence

no record of

history

the language in

which they breathed their loves, their hopes, and their

fears,
is

has died

forgotten

away

and

noble, and their

all

even

we know

women

their

mute

figures

a nation

men

looked

and that flowers were

used in their sacred ceremonies

the

as

that their

is,

beautiful

name

and that

all,

upon the marble, have long

saving
since

INTROD UCTION.

14

We

passed away.

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 being en-

throned upon
beautiful

Olympus, was

to

be transformed into a

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

stand throughout
"

all

time

thing of beauty, and a joy forever."

Thomas MUler.

it

Missing Page

Missing Page

THE

LANGUAGE OF FLOWEES.

SPRING.
MARCH,

GRASSES

(Gramina).

Ihebe

Utility.

is

any

there

plant

more useful than the grass

of

the

without

meadow
care

of

all

serviceable
nists

tell

It

grows

culture,

all

sustaining the

animals most

to

man.

Bota-

us that more than three hundred varieties

of grass exist.
ful

the

over the earth

life

or

Many

of

them have exceedingly grace-

and beautiful blossoms.

2 *

C17)

THE LAXaUAGE OF FLOWERS.

18

WEEPING WILLOW
The common willow

is

sacred to forsaken lovers

whose branches seem

this graceful tree,

an eternal weight of regret,

silvery, flexile

There, early in spring,

branches wave over the resting-places

of those dear to us, and seem to

with Lafontaine,

but

droop with

to

by universal consent

is

appropriated to the graveyard.

its

Melancholy.

{Salix Bahylonica).

" Absence

is tlic

HORSE-CHESTNUT

murmur

continually,

greatest of all evils."

Luxury.

(^^sculus hippocastanum).

This gorgeous tree bursts into leaf and bloom with

When

incredible rapidity on the return of spring.

it is

growing alone, nothing can equal the symmetry of

its

pyramidal form, the richness of

its

The

superb clusters of flowers.

and the wood of

LILAC
"

little

Lilac, in

fruit,

foliage,

however,

and

is bitter,

value.

First emotion of love.

{Syringa vulgaris).

its

whose purple well

Youth, in perpetuOj 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

Van Spaendonck
lilacs.

my

heart

let his

its

blossoming."
T. W. Parsons.

brush

fall

before a bunch of

Nature seems indeed to have made every cluster

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Around each mass of bloom

perfect.

and

decomposed

is

which,

into

melting into one

all

mony which

19

the

light plays

thousand varying shades,

tint,

make

that

happy har-

dazzles the beholder and drives the painter

to despair.
" The lilac, various in array, now white,
I^ow sanguine, and her beauteouB head

now

set

"With purple spikes pyramidal, as if, studious of ornaments,

Yet unresolved which hues she most approved,
She ho8e them all.'*

Cowper.

The
its

lilac

symbolizes the

tender green,

its

flowers, with their tender

emotions of love, because

first

flexible

shoots, and

and varied

its

abundant

colors, all recall

those celestial emotions which lend to youth a

divine

grace.

ALMOND
Emblem

{^Amygdahis 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.

come.

Virgil

makes

it

all

the shrubbery

yet

is

prophesy of the harvest to

Fable gives the almond tree

this

origin.

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

made him her husband.

death of his father,

prince, loved him, and

Recalled to Athens by the

Demophoon promised

Phyllis

to

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEltS.

20

come back

a month, and fixed the

in

The tender

return.

moment

counted every instant of

Phyllis

absence, and when the long-desired day

his

of hia

arrived, she ran nine times to the shore

at

last

but, having

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

dead of

grief,

and was changed into an almond

months

Three

after,

late at his loss,

Demophoon returned

he offered a

appease the manes

to

of

sacrifice

his

She seemed

beloved.

the almond

for

by

tree suddenly put forth flowers, proving

PERIWINKLE (Fmco minor).

The periwinkle has green,
growing on long,

last

grass to

it

weave a

fairy net over

imprison the pretty blue flowers which

lasting happiness

and

Sweet memories.

firm, glossy leaves, which,

trailing stems,

peep out here and there.

ship,

this

that death itself could not change her.

effort

the

disconso-

on the sea-shore,

and return,

sensible of his repentance

tree.

its

This plant

color

is

is

dedicated to

that preferred

by

friend-

was for J. J. Rousseau the emblem of the

sweetest remembrances.

TUUIP
The
that

(TuUpa gesnerianu).

Declaration of love.

tulip is a native of Asia,

its

name

arose from

its

though Thomas Miller says, "

is

and some writers claim

resemblance to a turban,

Pew know

that there

a beautiful fragrant yellow tulip which grows wild

TBE LANGUAGE OP
in our

own

know

to

pastoral England.

turbans

for

was, no

Jonson's

'

Anniversary

Pan's

on

fir^

which

'

old

mentioned in Ben

is

by the very name

it

idolize

signifies,

by

its

general

with her beauty, and by

centre, that his heart is

almost

me

it

In the East, when a young man presents

one to his mistress,

is

flower,

plentiful in the days of our

and whifh

poets,

bears."

that he

It gives pleasure to

origin of this splendid

the

21

neither indebted to Turks nor

are

doubt, more

Elizabethan

still

we

that

FLOTTEItS.

this

burned to a

flower

coal.

ed with the utmost splendor.

color,

black

The Turks

and every year,

seraglio of the Sultan, the Feast of Tulips

have had their adorers.

its

is

in

the

celebrat-

In Europe, also, tulips

Between the years 1644 and

1647, tulips rose to incredible prices in Holland, and

enriched

many

Those who,

speculators.

for

want of

ready money, could not engage in this trade, exchanged

One

houses and lands for bulbs.

is

said to have

lars

This

been sold as high as ten thousand dol-

extraordinary

by a law that no
for

variety, the Viceroy,

traffic

was

at

tulip, or other flower,

last

checked

should be sold

sum exceeding one hundred and

seventy-five

dollars.

BUCKBEAN

(Menyanthea

Along that lake whose

less sky,

light

Calmness, repose.

silvery waters reflect a cloud-

do you see those

pink just tinges

trifoliata).

clusters, as white as

the

reverse

snow

of these lovely

THE LANGUAGE OF PLOTTERS.

22
flowers,

and a

whiteness

have

once

tuft of

seen

this

edge of the water,

plant,

j'ou

called,

expands only

in

balancing gently

can never forget

The bog-bean,

and grace.
sometimes

very delicate filaments of dazzling'

from their alabaster cups.

escapes

or

its

water-trefoil,

you

If

on the
elegance
as

it

never blooms in stormy weather

a calm day.

is
it

APRIL.

HAWTHORN

Hope.

(Crataigus).

HE

old poets, as if despairing

to find a fitting

May

them

for to

word

that

season of poetry,

recalled the

the

for this

blossom, have called

fragrant
it

name

month of

flowers,

and was

fraught with associations of

that

is

dytes,

bright and beautiful on the earth."

who

recalled the golden age

ners, smilingly covered

those

whom

them with branches of hawthorn

death as the

more.

dawn of a

life in

by

all

The Trogloman-

their simple

death took from

for

they regarded

which they should part no

In Athens, young maidens carried boughs of

hawthorn at the weddings of their companions

(23)

the

Missing Page

Missing Page

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

26

happy marriage, was moved by a

year, on the eve of a

tender pity, and approached to throw flowers on

an offering had preceded

girl,

But

it.

The nurse of the young

his.

taking the veil and flowers which should have

adorned her on her wedding day, put them in a

basket

then, having placed

plant of acanthus, she covered

it

little

beside the tomb on a

it

with a broad

The

tile.

next spring the acanthus leaves had surrounded the

basket

but, stopped

by the edges of the

tile,

they bent

back and roiinded gracefully towards their extremities.

Callimachus, surprised at this rural

decoration, which

seemed the work of the weeping Graces, made of

it

the

capital of the Corinthian column.

BUGLOS^
La Bruyere,
said, " If
art, if

(Anchuaa

officinaUs.')

the most spirituel of French moralists,

women were

naturally what they

they should lose in a

moment

their complexion, if their faces

leady as they

Falsehood.

make them by

become by

the freshness of

all

were as glowing or as

the

rouge and the paint

which they use, they would be inconsolable."

truth

appears incontestable

south, from east to west,

and

from

yet,

among savage

This

north to

or polished na-

tions, this strange taste for painting is universal.

perron relates

how

attention, took a bit of coal

and went

to

pound

corner, then, having rubbed her cheeks with

with a triumphant

Du-

a young savage, wishing to attract his

air,

as

if this

it,

it"

in a

returned

had rendered the

effect

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

charms more sure.

of her

whom

Greek princess

27

Castellan, speaking

of a

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 eye-

Her eyebrows, joined by

lids spoiled their expression.

a pencilled lin, 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

oldest
itate

and

is

used in the composition of several kinds

That of which

of paints.

it is

dangerous of

least

the basis

all.

is

perhaps the

But nothing can im-

the natural blush of modesty, and art destroys

irreparably.

If

we wish

to please long, if

we wish

it

to

please always, let us discard falsehood from our hearts,

our

lips,

and our faces, repeating with the poet,

" Eien n'est beau que

REST-HARROW

le vral, le yral eeul est

(Ononis spinosa).

aimable."

Obstacles.

This plant sometimes stops the labors of the husband-

man by

its

tough network of roots.

papilionaceous pink flowers,

struck roots,

it is

its

With

its

pretty

long thorns, and deeply-

the siren of the

fields,

and the emblem

of the obstacles which vice opposes to virtue.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

28

HONEYSUCKLE

(^Lonieera).

Bonds of

love.

" Bid her steal into the pleacIiM bower,

Whore honeysuckles, ripened by the bud,
Borbid the sun to enter like favorites
Made proud by princes, that advance their pride

Aeainst that power that bred

it."

Shakspeare,

The poets have repeatedly

flower under the

The

*'

of woodbine.
in

Midsummer

Dream was

Night's

Quite overcanopied with lush woodbine,"

The opposite
have been

name
bank

delicious

celebrated this delightful

attributes of inconstancy

ascribed to the

and

fidelity

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.

Bather let us believe with good old

in the Floure

Dan

Chaucer,

and the Leafe,

" And those that were chapaets on their hede,

Of fresh woodbind, be such as never were
To love untrue in word, in thought, in dede,
But ay stedfast, ne for plesaunce ne fere,
The' 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

one would say that

aloft, to

this

weak shrub wished, springing

Surpass the king of the forests in height; but

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

soon, as

efforts

if its

again, and crowns

Love sometimes

were vain,

it falls

29

down

gracefully

Thus

him with perfumed festoons.

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; but jealousy -struck thee
in

the

And

very arms which

should have protected thee.

thou, gentle and humble

the greatest
heart,

La

Valliere, the love of

monarch alone could subjugate thy poor

and draw

it

away from

virtue.

Poor vine

the

wind of inconstancy soon deprived thee of that dear

prop

but thou didst never

trail

on the ground

heart, raising its affections to heaven, carried

der

homage

to

Him who

love.

3*

alone

is

thy

its

ten-

worthy of eternal

MAY.

LILY OF THE VALLEY

{Convallaria majalis).

Return of

happiness.

joy do we greet the

And
Which

little

ivory bells of

" that modest, pale,

sweetest nursling- of the wood,
men c:ill lily of the vale,

BocaiiBG

it

dwi'lLs in

lowly

mood"!
Piirsons.
(30)

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWESS.

"

So

31

flower amid the garden fairer grows

tlie sweet lily of the lowly vale."

Tlian

Seats.

" The lily 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 sun 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 mtlgare).

" Why," said a young matron

Prohibition.

to the venerable pastor

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

hedge, instead of that flowering privet which encircles

your garden

bid your child

"

When you

for-

some dangerous pleasure, the prohibition

is

accompanied on your

is

a caress

replied, "

The pastor

and

if

lips

by a tender smile

diately offers a plaything to

console him

ner, the pastor's

hedge ought

and

even to those

offer flowers

your look

he rebels, your maternal hand imme-

HEATH

{Erica).

to

keep

whom

is

in like

man-

it

repulses."

Solitude.

The common heather, which grows

Britain and G-ermany,

off the intrusive,

so freely in Great

not found wild in this country.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

32

The various elegant

species which are found in conser-

Cape of Good Hope.

vatories are mostly natives of the

Miller says, "

The heath was well chosen

of solitude.

It

many

recalls

as the

emblem

a wild landscape

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

was

it

clothed everywhere with the rich carpet of crimson and

purple heather, looking from the distance as

shine not of earth had

mountain steep

in

subdued and rosy

vast plains of immeasurable extent

might

sit

and sigh away

a sun-

light

it

recalls

spots where lovers

their souls in each other's

disturbed by the foot of

without being

if

come down and bathed the whole

the

arms

solitary

hunter."

POETS' NARCISSUS
This

is

(Narcissus poetieus).

most beautiful of

the

its

Egotism.

family.

large

of pure white, slightly drooping, with a golden

flower,

cup in the centre, which exhales a strong and pleasant

Every one knows the pretty story attached

odor.

so

we

confine ourselves to three extracts.

describing a garden, says,

*

And round

about grew every aort of floure,

gad lovers were transformed of yore;
Foolish Narcisse, that lilces the wat'ry shore."

To which
"

The

to

pale narcissus, that with passion pure

upon itself; but, newly blown,

The nymphs will plucic it from its tender
Still feeds

And

say,

'

Go,

fool,

and to

tliy

image

it

Spenser, in

stall;.

talk.'

Lord Thurlow.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

"

On

the bank a lonely flower he spied,

forlorn flower, with noug^ht of pride,
Drooping its beauty o'er the watery clearness
To woo its own sad image into nearness.
Deaf to bright Zephyrus, it would not move,
But still would seem to droop, to pine, to lore."
Kecas.

33

meek and

LINDEN,
Come

'

forth,

or

and

LIME

us through our hearts receive

let

The joy of verdure

Showers cool green

Conjugal love.

(TiHa).

see,

the honeyed lime

on banks where wild flowers weave

light

Thick tapestry."

Mrs. Hemans.

This favorite tree commemorates the beautiful story

of Baucis and Philemon.
den, and

thus

Baucis was turned to a

now an emblem

stands

it

butes and graces of a faithful wife.

and the

thick and verdant,

it

bewitching.

The

ing

air.

ers

makes a good

It is a useful tree too

tisane

its

attri-

foliage is very

effects of light

The blossoms perfume

of the

all

and shade on
the surround-

an infusion of

its

flow-

bark can be woven into a

kind of cloth, and braided into ropes and hats.

Greeks made paper of

it,

lin-

The

resembling that from papyrus,

and specimens made by our modern processes resemble

wood

white satin.

Its

Europe with

fuel,

chestnut

furnishes the poorer clasfees in

shoes, and

furniture.

and other trees have disputed

The horseits

place

in

avenues and public promenades, but nothing can banish

it.

STRAWBERRY
The

illustrious

{Fragaria vesca).

Bernardin de

Perfect excellence.

St. Pierre

conceived the

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

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

34

tion of the ancient authors.

had chanced

to

grow over

his

strawberry plant, which

window, turned him from

this vast design: he observed this plant,

so

many wonders

in

He

lifetime.

that he clearly

it,

of a single plant and

saw that the study

was enough

inhabitants

its

and discovered

then renounced the ambitious

to fiU a

title

of his

book, and contented himself with writing Studies of

Nature.

It is

from

this

taste for observation

book that we must acquire a

and

it is

there, above

must read of the strawberry.

all,

that

charming berry, which vies with the rosebud in

ness

and perfume, delights the

taste.

It is a

we

All over the world this

sight,

the

fresh-

smell, the

welcome luxury on the tables of the

and a feast for the children of the poor.

rich,

The learned

botanist Linnaeus was cured of frequent attacks of the

gout by the use

delicate

and

pluck them

of strawberries.

pretty

but

who

so

The

flowers

barbarous

as

are
to

THYME

{Thymus).

Activity.

" I know a bank whereon the wild thyme grows."

How many

diligent bees sing this song to each other,

and swarm about

Greeks regarded

the
this

fragrant

flowery,

doubtless they had observed that

ening to the brain,

Activity

is

is

tufts

The

herb as the symbol of activity

its

perfume, strength-

very salutary for old persons.

a warlike virtue,

and

this is

why

ladies for-

merly often embroidered on the scarf of their knights a

bee humming round a branch of thyme.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

RED VALERIAN
This

is

(^Valeriana rubra).

a native of the Alps.

35

Readiness.

Its root is said to

be

an excellent remedy against most maladies engendered

by luxury, and an infusion of

eyes,

and animating

it

is

to the spirits.

strengthening to the
It

blooms freely and

though our common valerian

is

improved by

is

perhaps more attractive, and equally useful.

odor of the root

stated, to rats.

culture,

is

very enticing to cats, and also,

The
it is

SUMMER.
JUNE
THE MONTH OF ROSES.
UEEN

of

who

flowers,

that

could sing has not sung thee,

I

enchanting Rose
pression

can

even do justice
fections.
title

the

maiden,

is

Yet no ex-

exaggerate,
to,

or

thy per-

Perhaps the sweetest

of the Virgin Mother, to

heart of

many

the one of " Rosa Mystioa."

a Catholic

Among

the

Greeks and Romans the rose was the most conspic(36)

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

37

uous ornament of every festival and every solemn sacrifice.

of
its

it.

and Persia

Syria, Arabia,

In the East, indeed,

There

greatest perfection.

Attar, which

makes

it

vie in their admiration

this fairest of flowers attains

the precious

is distilled

live forever.

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

Is ricb

beyond the

rest;

Barry Cornwall.

The

love of the nightingale for the rose

is

continually

mentioned by the Eastern bards, and we find many

sions to

it

Moore

in our English rhymes.

" Though
With every flower

What

alla-

rich the spot

this earth has got,

to the nightingale,

is it

If there his darling rose

And Byron sings,

says,

is

not

.'

"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

whom

his melody.

His thousand songs,

is heard on high.
Blooms blushing to her lover's tale:
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 Reason blest,

Betums the sweets by nature given

In softest incense back to heaven.

And

grateful yields that smiling sky,

Her

fairest

hue and fragrant sigh."

In France there takes place annually a beautiful cere-

mony, which originated

4

as

follows

Saint

M^dard,

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS,

38
bishop

of Noyon, born at Salency, of an illustrious

family, instituted in his birthplace, in 532, a prize for

This prize

virtue.

is

a simple crown of roses

but

all

the young people of the village must acknowledge her

who

obtains

The

sister of

St.

most worthy, modest, and virtuous.

Mddard was unanimously named

founder, and bequeathed

virtues, to posterity.

many

the

She received her crown from the hands of

first rosiere.

its

as the

it

it,

with the example of her

Time, which has overturned so

empires, and broken the sceptre of so

many

kings

and queens, has respected the rose crown of Salency.

It has continued to pass

and another

to the

from the hand of one protector

brow of innocence.

Chaucer loved the rose, and crowned Venus with a

garland " rosy white and redde."
in

the

victor's

And

tells

us that,

" a rosy girlond was the

contest of beauty,

meed."

Spenser

after his description of fair

in her rich array, he says,

Alma,

" Her yellow golden beare

trimly woven, and in tresses wrought;
ISe other tire she on her head did weare.
But crowned with a garland of sweet rosifere.**

Was

In

many

a festive scene,

we

find, as Sir Philip

Sidney

beautifully said,
"

rosy garland and a weary head,"

Thus the rose has often been used

moral or adorn a tale."
Waller's

poems

Rose."

Middleton says,

is

One

to

"point a

of the most pleasing

of,

the well-known song, " Go, Lovely

Tim LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

39

I never heard

**

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 some flower, that smiles to-day,
'

To-morrow

And

will be dying."

holy George Herbert,

" Sweet rose, whose hue, angry and brave,
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye.

Thy

root

is

And

ever in

its

grave,

thou must die."

The celebrated Roman de

the

the

of Philip

court

written only to teach us

to a seducing voice

I4 Rose,

Fair,

the delight of

seems to have been

how dangerous

it

is

and that modesty ought

to listen
to defend

beauty, as thorns the rose.

The order of the Golden Kose was

the

Pope of Rome

formerly sent to
is

in

the twelfth

new sovereigns

now presented annually

fine

Sappho

little

poem on

to

instituted

century.

at their accession,

rose

is

but

attributed to

Lightening in its beauty's blaze.

It breathes of love : it blooms the gnest
Of Venus' 9ver-fragrant breast

pomp

by
was

some crowned head.

the

" 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

/n guuuy

It

its petals

spread;

Light foliage trembles round its head;

With vermeil blossoms fresh and fair,
It laughs to the voluptuous air."

TBB LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

40

Anacreon has sung the praises of the rose in two

exquisite odes.

In one he

" O, lovely rose

Thou

to thee I sing,

sweetest, fairest child of spring!

O, thou art dear to all the gods.

darling of their blest abodes;

The

Thy breathing' buds and blossoms fair

Entwine young Cupid's golden hair.
When gayly dancing hand in hand.

He

joins the Graces' lovely band."

The other one we give

will forgive its length for

ness.

The

translation is

" Thou,
I in

my

entire, sure that our readers

its

beauty and appropriate-

by T. Bourne.

friend, Shalt

sweep the

string,

loftiest strains will sing.

While its fragrance round us flows.

The queen of flowers, the lovely rose.
Its perfumed breath ascends the skies

On

every gentle gale that sighs;

Its sweets descend to earth again,

Alilce 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 pluck the rose without the thorn;

With gentlest touch its leaves to press,

And

our soft caress!

the poet'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 sides;
raise it to

O, thou art

still

TBS LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

For rOBy-flngered

Is

the

41

mom

With which the crimson veil is drawn.

The lovely nymphs we always deck
With rosy arms and rosy neck
;

And roseate tints are

To bloom the cheeks

ever seen
of beauty's queen.
Its power to soothe the pangfs of pain
Physicians try, nor try in vain;

And

when

and hope are fled,

embalms the dead;
For though its withering charms decay,
And one by one all fade away,
e'en

life

Its deathless scent

Its grateful smell the rose retains.

And

redolent of youth remains.

But, lyrist, let

From whence

It

next be sung

this precious treasure sprang.

When

first from ocean's dewy spray

Fair Venus rose to upper day,
When, fearful to the powers above,

Pallas sprung from Jove,

'Twas then, they say, the jealous earth
First gave the lovely stranger birth.

The armid

drop of pure nectareous dew

the blest immortals threw;
while it trembled on the thorn.
And then the lovely rose was born.
To Bacchus they the flower assign.
And roses still his brows entwine."

From heaven

Tasso gives us an exquisite description of the rose.

" Deh mira, egli cantd, spuntar la rosa
Bal rerde suo modesta e' verginella,

Che mezzo aperta ancora e mezzo ascosa,

Quanto si mostra men, tanto h pi{l bella,
Fcco poi nudo il sen gik baldanzosa
Dispiega, ecco poi langue, e non par ciueUa,
Quella non par, che desiata avantl

Fu da

mille donzelle e mille amanti,

" Cosl trapassa

al

trapassar d'un

Delia vita mortale

And

Ariosto
**

tells us,

il

giomo

fiore e'l verde."

Ger. Lib., Canto

verginella h simile alia rosa

Ch' in bel giardin su la nativa spina
Hentre sola e sicura si riposa,
Hi gregge n6 pastor se le awicina

lia.

4*

XVL

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

42

L' anra eoare e 1' alba rugiadosa,

L'acqua, la terra al suo favor B'incliiiia
Gioveni vaghi e doune inamorate
Amano averue e sen! e temple ornate."
Orl. Fur., Canto

The
told:

I.

origin of the thorns on

the rose is thus fancifully

" Young Love, rambling through the wood,

Found me

in

my

Bolitude,

Bright with dew, and freshly blown.

And 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 cell.
One bright drop on my bosom fell.

Weeping, to his mother he

Told the tale of treachery;
And she, her vengeful boy to please.
Strung bis 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,"

ROSEBUD.
"Who

can view the ripened rose, nor seek

To wear

Yet

many

to

Confession of love,

it.'"

the rose

^y,.^
is

lovelier

before

she " ex-

pands her paradise of leaves."

The rose

is

fairest

when

tis budding new."

Scott.

"

Ah

Doth
That

Thomson
'

see the virgin rose,

first

fairer

how

sweetly shee

peepe forth with bashfull modestee,

seemes the less ye see her may."
Spenier.

praises

red rosebud, moist with morning dew.

Breathing delight."

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

WHITE ROSE
It

was fabled that

but the authorities

QRosa alba).

all

differ

roses

43

Silence.

were originally white;

widely as to

how

The legend most generally received

red.

it
is,

became
that

it

The ancients

was colored by the blood of Adonis.

represented the god of Silence under the form of a

young man, putting one finger on his

ing in

hand a white

other

the

lips,

rose.

and holdrose

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

Hence

ceiling.

secrecy.

Happy

the

age,

when a

the lips of the tale-bearer

The white rose

scenes
the

is

expression

" sub

rosS,,

"

for

rose was enough to seal

connected with more melancholy

and thoughts than the

brilliant

red rose.

In

" Lay of the Last Minstrel," when the sad, anxious

Margaret came on her palfrey,

**

And
at

the

veil,

her loose locks a chaplet pale

Of

And

White was her wimple and her

wliitest roses bound.**

tomb of Byron's Zuleika,

"A

sing^le

rose is shedding

Its lonely lustre,

meek and pale;

by despair,

It looks as planted

So white, so faint, the slightest gale

Hight whirl the leares on high.*'

" Bring Sowers, pale flowers, o'er the bier to shed,

A erown for the brow of the early dead
For this through its leaves hath the wliite rose borst,"
'.

" By the garland on the

Weep

bier,

a maiden claims thy tear

Broken is the rose."

Mra.

Hmnam,

44

MOSS ROSE.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

(Bosa muscoaci). Superior merit. Yoluptnonsness.

PKETTT

this

The Angel of

superb rose.
fell

under a rose

asleep

tree,

refreshing

waking,

thus

mine,
be thine."

In guerdon of duty
Bestow some new beauty,'
She said; and tben smiled

Like a mischievous child.

In anger be started,
Bat ere be 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 Ange] of Flowers
Mistrusted bis powers,

And was heard to declare

He had granted her prayer."

one day

which

shade,
in

' Thon qneen of my bowers.

Thou fairest of flowers,

What gilt shall be

And what guerdon

the

gives us the origin of

the Flowers

him

from

translation

German

and

rapture

gave

on
he

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

WILD BRIER, SWEET BRIER ROSE,

or

45

EGLANTINE.

Poetry.

This

is,

par

excellence, the flower of

the poets.

Hear

them.
"

A sweeter spot of eartb was never found.

I looked and looked, and

Such joy

my

still

with new delight,

soul, such pleasures filled

my sight.

And the fresh eglantine exhaled a breath

Whose odors were of power to raise firom death."
Dryden, from Chaucer,

Spenser
*'

tells

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 I'll plant

with dew-sweet eglantine."

Keats.

" Grateful eglantine regales the smell."

Cowper
" Here eglantine embalms the

air."
Scott.

"

brier rose,

whose buds

lleld &agrant harvest for the honey bee."

"The
The crowning

chestnut flowers are past,

hawthorn fail,
But arches of sweet eglantine are cast
From every hedge,"
Mrs, Semans,

" The

glories of the

wild-brier rose, a fragrant cup

To hold the morning's tear,*'

JtBss Landofn,

In Cymbeline we find Arviragus saying that the grave

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

leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,

Outsweetened not thy breath."

The

THE LAlfGUAOE OF FLOWERS.

46

Eglantine est

*'

Clemence Isaure

romance

is

made

that bears her

was one of the prizes

of Toulouse,

which

will

the violet.

instituted

be found

que j'aime."

la fleur

say,

to

name

in

the

pretty

and a golden eglantine

at the celebrated Floral

by her

old

fuller

immediately after the

Games

account

of

article

on

JTJLT.

MUGWORT

(^Artemisia vulgaris or ponticwm).

Good

luck.

Happiness.

HEEE

is

a superstition

among
a

French peasantry that

the

wreath of this plant, gathered

and worn on midsummer eve,

has power to preserve the wearer

from

all

attacks of evil spirits

or men, throughout the

With regard

to

the

name

French translation of Pliny

poser les

noms aux herbes

aux hommes,

elle

of this plant, a 'quaint old

tells us,

" La gloire d'im-

n'a pas seulement appartenue

est aussi

venue jusqu'k enflammer

cerveau des femmes, qui ont vqulu avoir leur part

la

royne Artemisia,

Carie,

nom

fit

year.

femme du

le

car

riche Mausolus, roy de

tant par son Industrie, qu'elle baptisa de son

Tarmoise, qui, auparavant, dtoit appeMe parthenis.

(47)

TBE LANGUAGE OF FL0WEB3.

48
Toutefois

il

y en a qui tiennent ce nom ffartemisia avoir

^t^ impost k Tarmoise, k raison

de la deesse Artemis

Ilithya {Diana), parceque cette herbe est particulidrement

The fragrant southern-wood be-

bonne aux femmes."

longs to this family,

and

WHITE JASMINE

{Jasminum

The jasmine seems

emblem of
fully to

shape

also the bitter

amiability.

to

have

Its supple

been created as the

branches bend grace-

every caprice of the trainer

and whether in the

of bush, tree, or arbor, it lavishes

climates, but

Amiability.

officinale).

of fragrant, star-like blossoms.

warm

wormwood.

It

on us a shower

grows now in

all

was introduced into Europe from

India by Spanish navigators, about 1560.

like the woodbine's, is stronger

Its fragrance,

towards night.

" Hanf a perfume breathed

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

Moore.

The

Earl' of Carlisle

pretty stanzas

is

the author of the following

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

Thy light festoons more freshly smell,

Thy virgin white more fteshly glows.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Uy

49

mild and winsome jasmine tree,

up tlie dark gray wall,

Ttiat climbest

Thy

tiny flowerets seem in glee,

Like silver spray-drops, down to fall

Say, did they from their leaves thus peep
When mailed moss-troopers rode the hill,
When helmed warders paced the keep,
And bugles blew for Belted Will
.'

My

and feathery jasmine tree.

Within the fragrance of thy breath
Ton dungeon grated to its key,
iVee

And the
On border
I

dream

chained captive pined for death.

fray,

on feudal crime,
on thee;

not, while I gaze

The

chieftains of that stern 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

The gardener might

take off a single flower or cutting.

On

have been faithful had he not been in love.

the

birthday of his mistress he presented her a bouquet con-

She put

taining one sprig of the precious jasmine.

moist earth to keep fresh

it

and her careful mother forbade their union.

was not

rich,

But

young

little

dowry.

girl,
.

by selling her jasmines, soon amassed

The Tuscan

girls still

jasmine on their wedding day

that a
to

in

She was poor, her lover

plied under her skilful hands.

the

it

took root, grew, and multi-

maiden worthy to wear

make her husband's

CARNATION

this

wreath

The variety of shades produced

is

rich

enough

fortune.

{Dianthm caryophyUua).

skilful cultivation is

wear a wreath of

and they have a proverb

almost

infinite,

Pure and deep

in

this

making

love.

flower
it

by

a great

TBE ZASOUAOE OF FLOWERS.

50

But through

favorite with florists.

preserves

beauty aud fragrance.

its

all

changes

it

still

The great Conde

loved and cultivated carnations, and had the courage to

wear one in

his button-hole before Louis

aversion to perfumes

Pope

says,

Dismiss

And

in

XTV., whose

well known.

is

" To the Eljrsian shades

where no carnation fades.'*

my

soul,

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

[Verhenahaslata).

Enchantment.

Vervain was used among the ancients in various kinds

of

divination,

reconciling

Romans

among

and.

other

properties,

enemies was attributed to

it.

that

When

sent heralds to carry to nations peace or war,

one of them carried vervain.

The Druids had the

est veneration for this plant; before gathering

made

of
the

a sacrifice to the Earth.

great-

it

they

The Magi, when adoring

the sun, held branches of vervain in their hands.

Venus

victrix wore a crown of myrtle interwoven with vervain,

and the Grermans to

this

brides, as if to put

goddess.

day give a wreath of vervain to

them under the protection of

this

In the northern provinces of France, the

shepherds gather

it

only to themselves.

with ceremonies and words

known

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

The

tare

TARES

(Lolium iemulentum),

Tice.

made

to symbolize vice.

Its stalk

is

wheat

bles that of

grows up in the

it

The hand of the wise and

with

that

csire,

may

it

same time the germs of

poor man's friend.

in

virtue.

It

in the garden.

the

grows wild along the brook and

shows

its

modest

It is a soft, silvery-looking plant,

with delicate, pretty pink flowers.

and the root are

and sirups

Beneficence.

typifies beneficence, is

around the cottage, and sometimes

pastes

diligently to

which springs up

{Atthea officinalis).

The marshmallow, which

leaves, the stalk,

the

but he should beware lest he uproot

MARSHMALLOW

head

up

skilful cultivator roots it

not be confounded with

eradicate every inclination to vice

the youthful heart

resem-

finest harvests.

Thus a wise instructor ought

good grain.

at the

51

are

The

flowers,

all useful.

prepared from

its

the

Various
juices,

as

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

A lost traveller
ment

in

discover,
foresight.

plants

its

has sometimes found wholesome nutri-

root.

We

need only look around us to

everywhere in nature, proofs

But

as in

this

of

love

and

tender mother often conceals, in

men, the greatest virtues under the most

modest exterior.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

52

FLOS ADONIS
Adonis was
left for

fate

(_Adonis autumnalis).

killod

him the

Painful recollections.

by a wild boar.

Venus, who had

delights of Cythera, shed tears over his

they were not lost

immediately produced

the earth received them, and

a slender

|)lant

covered with

flowers like drops of blood.

LOCUST

{Rohinia pseudo-aeaeid).

Platonic love.

This fine tree was carried from America to France,

more than a century ago, by the

gave
fresh,

it

his

and

name.

its

botanist Robin,

Its foliage is exceedingly light

white, drooping flowers very fragrant.

Indians are said to have

buried their dead under

its

made bows
shade.

of

its

who
and

The

wood, and

AUGUST.

WHITE LILY
" II

(Lilium candidum).

Majesty.

Purity.

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

BoisjoUn.

EAK

to the heart of every one is

It stands with

this regal flower.

ineffable

grace on

the

stem which rises from

elegant

its circle

of

long green leaves, and breathes

out the richest incense.

It is

native of Syria, but has reigned

in our gardens

from time immemorial.

of France have especially honored

the gardens

on

of

Charlemagne.

his coat of arms, coins,

5*

and

it.

The sovereigns
It

bloomed in

Louis VII. placed

seals.

it

Philip Augustas
(53)

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

54
sprinkled his

standard with

St.

lilies.

Louis wore

ring representing, in enamel and relief, a wreath of

and

and on the stone was graven a

daisies,

these words

amour

" Hors

crucifix with

cet annel pourrions-nous

" because; indeed, this ring

pious king the emblems of

all

lilies

trouver

combined

for the

his reli-

he held dear

gion, his country, and his wife.

" Crowned with a wreath of

lilies, breathing cool

Their frag^rance o'er his throbbing temples, cornea
July, with languid step."

Long alleys, falling down to twilight

Or opening upon level plots
Of crownM lilies, standing near

grots,

Purple-spiked lavender."

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."

Mn.

GARDEN GILLYFLOWER

Norton.

{Cheiranthua armuua).

Lasting Beauty.

The

gillyflower,

majestic than the

either.

The

graceful

less
lily,

keeps

old English poets

and made frequent allusions to

ingly fine

its

efi"ect3

it.

than

the rose, less

freshness longer than

loved the gillyflower,

In Germany, surpris-

are produced with this flower.

de la Tour says,

"At an

old chateau near

Mme.

Luxemburg

were arranged, along an immense terrace, four rows of

vases,

of

coarse

ware,

but well shaped,

purest white; these were aU

filled

and of the

with the finest red

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

55

gillyflowers.

Towards sunset one would have

living flames

were issuing from these vases, and a bal-

said that

samic odor fiUed the air around."

'HHZ.fCC (Tritieumvulgare).

"Wealth.

This plant seems to have been conferred on man,

together with the use of
of the earth.

because

An

fire, to

culture exacts

its

assure to

one of the

It is

first

him the sceptre

links of

society,

mutual labor and services.

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

Nearly dead with hunger, in passing by a well

days.

where caravans stopped, he saw on the sand a

" God be praised," said he, picking

leather bag.

"I

believe this

but, seeing

that I

am

DAHLIA

is

what

it

It is

(DahUa),

little

flour."

He

hastily

flavor,

flowers,

My gratitude

exceeds your cares.

It

was

first

Novelty.

its

roots

introduced

an edible, but proved of too strong a

as

and botanists soon began

which were

from Andrew

it,

contained, exclaimed, " Unfortunate

nothing but gold dust

are eaten, roasted in the ashes.

Europe

up

opened

This showy plant comes from Mexico, where

into

little
it

Dahl,

to cultivate it for its

at first only single.

a celebrated

It is

Swedish

named

botanist.

Cultivation has developed a countless variety of shades,

while improving the shape of this flower, and English

gardeners hold

it

in great esteem.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

56

GARDEN MARIGOLD
"

(Calendula

Grief.

officinalis).

Chagiin.

No marygolds yet clOBcd are,

No shadowB yet appear."
Herrick.
V

" But, maiden,

And

day is waxen olde,

in with the marygold."
Browne.

see, the

'gins to sliut

The celebrated Mme. Lebrun painted a pretty

picture, representing Grief

man, pale

a;nd

under the form of a young

languishing, whose

head seemed bent

under the weight of a wreath of marigolds.

nearly
it

all

the year round

till

It

is

It

Bomans

therefore the

the Flower of the Calends.

nine A. M.

little

blooms
called

open only from

about three P. M., but turns towards

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

July and August

the

it

by

emits luminous sparks

In

night, like

nasturtium and a few other plants of the same

color.

Margaret of Orleans, the maternal grandmother

of Henry FV., took for her device a marigold turning

to the sun, with the motto,

" Je ne veux suiTxe que

lui seul."

The

older poets called

it

Chaucer de-

simply gold.

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 shutteth with the

light,"

THE LANQXTAOE OF FLOWERS.

Shakspeare evidently cherished

57

this flower.

" The marigold, that goes to hed 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,

Phcehus 'gins arise,
His steeds to ^ater at those springs
I

And
On

chaliced flowers that lies.

And

winking mary-budds begin

To ope their golden eyes;

With every thing

My
The

practical
Fair

The more

lady sweet,
Arise, arise

Gay
is

that pretty bin,

arise,
I

tells us,

the marigold, for pottage meet,"

poetical Keats sings,

" Open afresh your round of starry

folds,

Ye ardent marigolds
Dry up the moisture of your golden
I

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

We

end with part

"

oft

a fine piece by George Wither.

When

with a serious musing I behold

and obsequious marigold,
How duly every morning she displays
Her open breast, when Titan spreads his rays;

The

grateful

How

she observes him in his daily walk.

bending towards him her small, slender stalk;

How, when he down declines, she droops and mourns.
Bedewed as 'twere with tears till he returns;
Still

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

58

And how she veils her flowers when he la

As if she scorned to be looked on
By an inferior eye, or did contemn
To wait upon a meaner light than him

gone.

When

methinku the flowers

Have spirits far more generous than ours,
And, give us fair example to despise
The servile fawnlngs and idolatries
I thus meditate,

Wherewith we court these earthly things below,

Which

we bestow,"

merit not the service

MIGNONETTE

Your

(Reseda odorata).

qualities surpass

your

charms.
**

No

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."
Evana.

Yet

Cowper says
"

What

in the Task,

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

set

owe the reseda

to Egypt.

perfume to that of ambrosia.

it

is

sweetest and

from spring

till

atmosphere,

it

At

sunrise and sun-

most penetrating.

autumn, in doors or out,

By

versal favorite.

Linnaeus compared

keeping

Flowering
it

is

in a temperate,

it

grows woody, and becomes a

a uni-

even

little tree,

living several years.

DATURA
The

foliage

(Datura ariorea).

of

this

plant

guishing in the daytime, but

mated, and

its

Deceitful charms.

seems faded and lanat

night appears reani-

beautiful flowers exhale an intoxicating

THE LANGUAGE OF FLO WEUS.

but dangerous perfume.
stories

was suggested by

One
it

the following sonnet upon it:

**

of Hoffman's wonderful

and Mrs. Ilemans wrote

such fairy dreams as lie

Nursed wliere the bee sucks in the cowslip's bell,
Are not thy train those flowers of vase-like swell.
Clear, large, with dewy raoonlig^ht filled from 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."

Majestic plant

C40^

59

AUTUMN
SEPTEMBER,
FORGET-ME-NOT

{hlyosotls palustris).

Forget

me

not.

HKRE

is a flower, a lovely flower,

Ting-ed deep with Faith's unchanging

hue,

Pure aa 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,

me not, forget ine not

Forget

Ilalleck,

A
were

story

is

told in

{Trans, from the German.)

Germany, that two young lovers

walking on the banks

of

the

Danube, when a
(60)

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

of flowers of celestial blue

cluster

springs

lover

water,

the

throw them

to

me

by on the

admires and

into

" Love, forget

crying,

feet,

girl

and has just time

the flowers,

her

at

Her

them.

regrets
seizes

floated

Struck by their beauty, the

stream.

61

before

not,"

he disappears in the swift current.

CHINA-ASTER

Variety.

(^Aster sinensis).

This beautiful aster comes from China, where

cultivated

They

a decoration.

as

ranged according to
and masses, the

by

their

The

and

great perfection,

in

reflection

in

owes

china-aster

planted in pots, and ar-

are

colors

their

eflFect

of which

in

charming

lines

often heightened

is

a stream or sheet
its

is

it

extensively used

variety to

water.

of

skilful

culture.

Thus study can vary continually the graces of the mind.

TUBEROSE
The

seems

tuberose

European writer
whether

it

Voluptuousness.

{^Polianthes tuherosa).

to

in 1594.

be

first

mentioned

by a

There has been some doubt

came from the East Indies or from Mexico

but the latter

in its favor.

country seems to have

Father Camell says

it

most evidence

was imported from

Mexico to the Philippine Islands by the Spaniards, who

called
It

it

Vara de S. Jose, or

was carried from Persia

was single then, but

handsi

of a

skilful

its

St.

to

Joseph's wand.

France in 1632.

It

petals were doubled under the

florist

of Leyden

named Lecour;

TBB LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

62
thence

spread

it

over

all

the

In Kussia

world.

blooms only for czars and courtiers, but in Peru

Its lovely spires terminate a tall, slender

naturalized.

stem, and

exhale

oppressive

if

Moore

a strong, sweet perfume, which

inhaled too closely.

tells

us of

" The tuberose with 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

(jCtmvolmtlus purpureua).

Coquetry.

" Conrolrulus, in streaked rases flush."

Keatt.

"Yes, thou canst smile and be as gay

As though 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."
!

"

it

it is

The Flower Vase.

Aux

feux dent I'air etincelle

S'ouyre la bcUc-de-jour;

Zephyr

la flatte

de

I'aile

La

friponne encore appelle

Les papillons d'alentour.

Coquettes, c'est votre

emblSme

Le grand

jour, le bruit vous platt.

Briller est votre art supreme;

Sans

^clat, le plaisir

mSme

Devleut pour vous sans attrait."

Pft.

HELIOTROPE

de la Madeline.

(^Heliotropium penivianum).

I adore you.

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

Mrs. Norton.

is

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

One

day, the

63

celebrated Jussieu, botanizing in the

most

Cordilleras, felt himself almost intoxicated with a

delicious

perfume

flower,

liant

he expected to discover some

bril-

but found only pretty bushes of a soft

green, crowned with clusters of a pale, lustreless pur-

He

ple.

approached these bushes

feet high),

were

six

and saw that the flowers with which they

were loaded,

turned to the

all

circumstance, he gave
the

(which

Greek words

it

sun.

name

the

Struck with' this

of heliotrope, from

sun, and trope, turn.

helios,

Elat-

ed with his new conquest, he hastened to gather some

seeds

of

it,

and send

ladies of Paris

siasm

called

they placed
it

it

for the first

immediately took
able

in

the

its

did

The

Jardin du Roi.

new

plant

most

with

enthu-

precious

" herb of love," and received with

ence a bouquet which

cultivated

the

to

received the

not contain

vases,

indiffer-

It

it.

place

as

a favorite in fashion.'

society.

SUNFLOWER

was

time, in Europe, in 1740, and

{Helianthus annuus) .

False riches.

" The gaudy orient sunflower from the crowd

Uplifts its golden circle."

MatuHn,
" Sunflowers, planted for their gfilded 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."
Sarton.

TEE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

64

The

sunflower,

too, is

a native of Peru, where

was formerly honored as the image of the

day.

The Virgins

tivals,

wore a golden crown, representing

star

of

Sun, in their religious fes-

immense

this

which also glittered on their breasts and in

flower,

their hands.

Poets have wrongly imagined this plant

towards the sun, and sometimes confounded

to turn
it

of the

it

with the heliotrope, though so unlike

it.

Lord Thurlow crowns Jealousy with the sunflower,

yellow being
It is said

her appropriate color.

Pythius, a rich Lydian,

that

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,

which

at

all

the dishes were

with gold.

filled

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

you can reap only what you sow

whether gold

made

is

so great a good

"

in

see your-

This lesson

the desired impression, and he acknowledged that

Providence had not abandoned true riches to man's

avarice.

WALL-FLOWER

(Clteiranthm cheiri).

Fidelity in misfortune.

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

TItomson.

" With cloudy

fire

the wallflowers burned."

" Wall-flowers In fragrance burn themselves away

With the sweet season on lier precious pyre."

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

*

65

Flower of the solitary place

Gray Ruin's golden crown,
That lendest melancholy grace
To haunts of old renown."
!

Moir.
*'

An emblem

true thou art

Of love's enduring lustre,

To cheer a lonely heart."

glvea

Barton.

Minstrels and troubadours formerly wore a sprig of

wall-flower as the

emblem of an

time and survives misfortune.

affection

wbich

in France, the sepulchres of the kings in the

St.

resists

During the reign of terror

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.

Treneuil, going to visit this sad spot, found

with the blossoms of the wall-flower.

to its

character, breathed out

rising to heaven,

trophe to

it.

its

The poet
it

brilliant

This plant, true

perfume, like incense

and inspired the poet with a

fine

apos-

OCTOBER.

IVY

(Hedera helix).

Friendship.

KiENDSHip

has chosen for

device

an

fallen

tree,

its

surrounding

ivy

with

the

" Nothing can detach me."

Greece the hymeneal

motto,

altar

In

was

wreathed with ivy, and a branch

of
pair, as the

it

was presented to the bridal

symbol of indissoluble union.

The Bac-

chantes, old Silenus, and Bacchus himself, were crowned

with ivy.
fadeless

In Egypt

it

was consecrated

green of the ivy made

it

to Osiris.

for the poet.

"

An

The

a suitable crown

ivy wreath, the poet's prize,

lift Meecenas to the skies."

Would

Sorace,
(66)

67

TBM LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Iti

was a faTorite with Milton.

Eve

bids

Adam

" Direct the daeping ivy where to climb."

Wordsworth, speaking of an old church, overgrown

with ivy, gives us 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."

" Hast thou seen, in winter's stormiest day,

The trunk of a blighted oak;
Kot dead, but sinking in slow decay.
Beneath Time's resistless stroke;
a luxuriant ivy had grown,
And wreathed it with verdure no longer its

Kound which

own?

O, smile 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 shed
Grace on the dying, and leaves not the dead ?
Barton.

With the Ivy Song of Mrs. Hemans, we end.

" O, how could fancy crown with thee.
In ancient days, the God of Wine,
And bid thee at the banquet be

Companion of the vine ?

thy home is where each sound
Of revelry hath long been o'er.
Where song and beaker once went round,
But now are known no more.
Ivy

Where long

fallen

There the place

gods

recline.

is thine.

The Boman on his battle plains.

Where kiiigs before his eagles bent,
With thee, amidst exulting strains,
Shadowed the ^victor's tent.

TRE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

68

Though Bhining

there in deathless green,

Triumphalljr thy boughs might wave,
Better thou lov'st the silent scene
Around 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 hnng,

Where mouldering turrets crest the Ehine,
The Rhine, still fresh and young
Tower and rampart o'er the Bhine,
Ivy

all

High from the

are thine

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

all

are thine

height.

Palace, hearth, 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.

*Tis still the

And

still let

man

his fabrics rear,

August in beauty, stern in power,

Days pass thou Ivy never sere
And thou shalt have thy dower.
All are thine, or must be thine
Temple, pillar, shrine "

'

MEADOW SAFFRON

(Colchicum autumnalis).

My best days

are past.

The

ancients believed that this plant, from the fields

of Colchis,

owed

its

origin to

some drops of the magic

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

liquor which

Medea prepared

This caused

it

all sorts

make

spring.
its

old

^aon

of maladies.

It is still

used in gout and rheuma-

pale violet flowers,

FOUR O'CLOCK,

or

the following

until

The melancholy nymph weaves

happy days which have

herself a

and consecrates

fled to return

it

climate

the

{Mirahilis

leaf,

of the Malay Isles, and in

an elegant shrub.

is

to

Timidity.

This plant, known also as jalap, princess's

belle-de-nuit, is a native

crown

no more.

MARVEL OF PERU

jalapa).

own

young.

to be regarded as a preservative against

The seed does not ripen

tism.

of

to

69

bells at four in the afternoon, closing

It

opens

its

them again

and
its

timid

at four

in the morning.

We

cannot refrain from transcribing here the

lowing graceful lines of Constant Dubos

"

amante des nuits,

Pourquoi ces timideB alarmea,
Quand ma muse au jour que tu fuis

Solitaire

S'apprte k revfler tes charmes.'

par pudeur. aux indiscrets
Tu caches ta tieur purpurine,

Si,

nous derobant tes attraits,

Permets encore qu'on les devine.

liOrsque Taube vient reveiller

Les brillautes filles de Flore,

Seule tu scmbles sommeiller,
Et craindre I'eclat dp raurore.
Quand I'ombre efTace Icurs couleurs,,
Tu reprends alors ta parure,
Et de I'absence de tes sosurs,
Tu vicns consoler la nature.

fol-

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

70

Sous

le voile

mystdrienx

De la craintire modeBtie
Tu veux dohapper k nos yenx,
t tu n'en

On

Le doux

Ah

es

on

cherche,

que plus

plaisir

pour encore

Donne ton

que tu recMes;
les embellir,

secret

FRAGRANT COLTSFOOT
Bhall

jolie;

aimfe & d^couvrir,

& nos belles."

Justice

{Tusailago fragratw).

be done you.

Genius, concealed under a modest exterior, does not

strike

the

But

vulgar.

ing judge meets

it,

if

eye of a discriminat-

the

immediately

obtains the accla-

it

mations of those whose stupid indifference could not

as

men,

and often require a patron to be appreciated.

The

comprehend

it.

Plants have the

fragrant coltsfoot, in spite of

its

same

fate

sweet odor, lived a long

time unknown at the foot of Mount Pila, where

it

would

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

M.

Villau, of Grenoble,

merits, and given

is

it

had not appreciated

its

a prominent place in his works.

very welcome in the drawing-room, as

it

comes

It
at

season when other flowers are scarce.

SCARLET GERANIUM
Mme. de
intellect

(Pelargonium inquinans).

Stael was always angry

was introduced into her

when a man of no

circle.

ever, a friend risked presenting a

of most antiable appearance.

Silliness.

One

day, how-

young Swiss

oflScer,

Deceived by appearances,

the lady grew animated, and said a thousand flattering

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

who seemed

things to the new-comer,

At

surprise and admiration.

71

at first

last, after

mute with

he had listened

nearly an hour without opening his mouth, she began to

him some questions so

mistrust his silence, and asked

direct that

only the

he was forced to reply.

But, alas

Mme. de

answers.

silliest

Stael,

he gave

angry at hav-

ing thrown away her trouble and her wit, turned to her

" Truly,

friend and said,

who thought

to please

me

a pot of scarlet geranium

him never

to let

me

sir,

see

this

wish to know, this geranium

odor."

me

morning by bringing

"

again."

is finely

it, it

it slightly, it

Why

" Because,

the young man, confounded.

ment you press

gardener,

but I sent him away, begging

it

long as you only look at

my

you resemble

is

so

sir,

" asked

since

dressed in red

pleasing

you
;

so

but the mo-

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

{Cupresaia).

" Peace to the dust that

Mourning.

in silence reposes

Beneath the dark shades of the

cjrpress

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 counterpanes."

Shakapeare.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

The cypress

is

fragrant smell the

imperishable.

tall,

leaves bitter.

us that in the

*'

Its

The Romans devoted

and the Orientals plant

tells

straight, evergreen tree, of

it

it

wood

is

almost

to funereal uses,

in their cemeteries.

Spenser

garden of Proserpina

There mournfull cypresse grew

iu greatest store."

NOVEMBER.

OAK

Hospitality,

(^Quercua).

The builder oake,

sole Ising of forrests all."

Spenser.

HE

ancients believed

that

the

oak, born with the earth, gave

shelter
first

and sustenance

men.

This

to

the

conse-

tree,

crated

to

Jupiter, shaded

cradle

in

Arcadia.

The

his
civic

crown of oak leaves appeared

to

Romans

the

Epirus, the

the most desirable

oaks of Dodona gave

of

Gaul covered the mysteries of the Druids.

of

all

those of

An

account

the celebrated oak trees in history would

volume.

In

rewards.

oracles

fill

Tennyson has sung the " Talking Oak," and

7

(?3)

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEBS.

74
Millevoye "
wrote,

La

Bryant eloquently

de chene."

feuille

*'

This mighty oak

By whose immovable stem

Almost annihilated
In

all

I stand,

and seem

not a prince
the proud old world beyond the deep

Ere wore his crown as loftily as he

Wears the g:reen coronal of leaves with which
Thy hand has graced him."

AMARANTH

(^A.maranthus).

Immortality.

" Sad Amaranthus, made a flowre but late,

Sad Amaranthus, in whose purple gore

Me

seemes I see Amintas' wretched fate,

poets' verse hath given endless date,"

To whom sweet

The amaranth

The

ancients

adorned with

is

it

it

at

last gifts

the gods.

of

III. of his great

It has, for

poem, pays
"To

With solemn

In the

Toulouse, the .prize for the best

was a golden amaranth.

or other, been a favorite of the poets

Book

of Autumn.

vith supreme honors, and

the foreheads

" Jeux Floraux,"

lyric

one of the

associated

adoration,

it

this

some reason

and Milton,

homage

the ground.

down they

cast

Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold,

Immortal nmaraath, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life.
Began to bloOm; but soon, for man's offence.
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 of Heaven,
Kolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber stream.
With these, that never fade, the spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks inwreathed with beams."

And

again in Lycidas,

" Bid Amaranthus

all

his beauty shed,"

in

THE LANGUAOE OF FLOWERS.

There are many species of amaranth.
called

coxcomb

is

Another variety

That which

corruption of cocVs comb)

(a

handsome, and

75

said to

grow

is

is

very

to a great size in Japan.

popularly called Love-lies-bleeding.

is

In Campbell's poem of " O'Connor's Child," he makes

the heroine say,

*'Thi8 purple flower my tears hare nursed

hero's blood supplied its bloom

it, for it was the first

That grew on Comiocht Morau's tomb."

I love

*
**

change my buried love

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

Nor would

And

cherish, for

my

warrior's sake.

The flower of love-liea-bleedmg."

PARSLEY

(Apium petroselinum).

Festivity.

Parsley was in great repute among the Greeks.

banquets they crowned themselves with

gayety and appetite.

received for prize

In the

Nemean games

a wreath of parsley.

to

it,

At

excite

the victor

was sup-

It

posed to be a native of Sardinia, because on old medals

that province
is

was represented by a woman

a vase of parsley

but

it

is

at

whose side

found in cool, shady

places throughout the south of Europe.

The

beautiful

verdure of this plant heightens the elegance of the dishes

it

adorns.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

76

CORNEUrAN CHERRY

(Carmcs mascula).

Contiiraance.

This tree rises only to the height of eighteen or

twenty
ries.
its

feet,
It

but

is

slow of growth, and lives for centu-

blossoms in Spring, and in

brilliant

red

fruit.

Autumn produces

The Greeks consecrated

it

to

Apollo, doubtless because this god presided over intellectual labors, which

This tree

is

the

would win the

demand much time and

emblem

laurel

of patience to

pile of flowers
it

spired the
little

We

and

firuit

who

German poet

will die together.

decomposes the

unfit for respiration.

piece called "

those

crown for poetry or eloquence.

A HEAP OF FLOWERS.

renders

all

reflection.

air,

and

This sad property in-

Freiligrath to write a striking

The Vengeance of the Flowers."

WINTER.
DECEMBER.
SERVICE TREE

{Pyrua domestica).

ACH
of

Pradence.

plant and tree has a character

its

own.

The giddy almoT"'

hastens to give her flowers to t^

Spring
fruit

for

service

only
7 *

at

the risk of having no

the

tree,

bears

Autumn, while the

which grows slowly,
fruit

when

it
(77)

has

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

78
attained

its full

This

tain.

is

Handsome and
all

strength

why

it

but then the harvest

keeps

it

winter a food provided

for the

little

MISTLETOE
The

cer-

called the type of prudence.

is

durable,

is

its

in the

bright red berries

midst of the snow

birds.

{Viscum vertieiUatum).

I surmount everything.

come down

following legend has

to us

from the

The god Balder having dreamed

days of the Druids.

that he should die, his mother, Frigga, conjured

fire,

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

know

resist.

Loke, the enemy of

the cause of his invulnerability,

and disguising himself under the form of an old woman,

He

went to ask Frigga.

learned that everything in

nature was sworn not to hurt Balder, except one

plant,

little

which seemed too insignificant to harm, having not

even a root of

own.

its

It

was the mistletoe.

Loke

immediately ran to find some, and, coming where the

gods were fighting

against

asks the blind Heder,

arrows

Balder

at

"

"

him, and said, " Balder

a goddess

falls lifeless.

is

blind enemy.

slain

Why

"I am

" and have no arms."

and Balder

the

invulnerable

blind,"

replied Heder,

Loke presented the

is

Balder,

dost not thou, too, throw

before thee."

mistletoe to

It is thrown,

Thus the invulnerable son of

by a branch of mistletoe thrown by a

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

The

mistletoe

is

on the tops of the

becomes
It

slave,

its

trees

tallest

shrub, growing

evergreen

little

and feeds

it

79

even the proud oak

with his

own

substance.

was regarded as peculiarly sacred by the Druids.

Every one

familiar with

is

nected with

it

the English customs con-

as a Christmas decoration.

" Bright-headed as the merry May dawn

She floated down the dance;
I thought some angel mnBt hare gone
Our human way by chance,
I held my hands and caught my bliss
Children, I'll show you how!
And earth touched heaven in a kiss
Under the mistletoe bough."
Maaeei/,

MOSS

{Cryptogamia).

Maternal love.

Like those friends repulsed neither by misfortune

nor ingratitude, the mosses, banished from cultivated
fields,

advance towards dry, uncultivated lands, to cover

them with

their

changed into

own

substance, which

is

by degrees

They extend over marshes,

fertile soil.

and soon transform them into useful meadows.

form, in the forest shade,

shepherd,

the

lover,

a turfy carpet, where the

and the poet love to repose.

Without these plants, so

little

regarded by us, a part

of the globe would be uninhabitable.

families cover with

know no

huts,

where

Their numerous herds

other food, yet they supply their

masters with delicious

furs.

In Lapland, the

moss the subterranean

they brave the longest winters.

of reindeer

They

milk, eatable

flesh,

and warm

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

80

LAURESTINE
This

pretty

(^Viburnum tinus).

shrub,

I die

improperly

comes to us from Spain, and

is

if

called

neglected.

laurustinus,

brilliant with

verdure

and flowers when other plants are stripped of them.

It

always requires assiduous attention, which, however,

it

well repays.

JANUARY.

LAUREL
" Yield

me

{Launa

nqbilis).

Glory.

one leaf of Daphne's deathless plant."

Byron,

HE
the

laurel or

bay tree has been

symbol of glory and vic-

every

and among

every age

tory in

The

people.

lovely

Daphne, daughter of the

river

Peneus, was loved by Apollo

but she fled from his proflFered

caresses.
as

He

pursued her, and

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

aid,

and was changed into the

his

head with the

be

esteemed

leaves,

sacred

to

laurel.

Apollo crowned
it

should

in

great

and ordered that

him.

It

grows

profusion on the banks of the Peneus, and

its

aromatic

CSi)

TBS LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

82

evergreen branches rise

tallest trees.

ascribed to

anciently

The
was

to

height of the

the

resisting lightning

was

it.

Domestica

Flora

in great

there

The property of

says,

" The

bay or laurel

The

esteem with physicians.

statue of

^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-

" Watering the tree which bore his lady's name

With his melodious tears, he gave himself to fame."

Though

the

" Short

be the " meede of mighty con-

laurel

qjierors," Oglevie

bids us

remember

that

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

is

not a native of our country;

but we have the beautiful kalmia, or American sheep

laurel,

which can challenge comparison with any shrub

of Europe.

HOLLY

{Hex).

Forethought.

" Boldest of plants that ever faced the wind."

IVordsworth.

The
mas

holly brings to

festivities

mind

and family

delightful scenes of Christjoys.

Its

curiously

cut,

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

shining leaves,

make

it

the

of

scarlet

berries,

an unequalled ornament for church, palace,

Among

or cottage.
are

and rich clusters

83

following

the best lines Southej erei: wrot*'

THE HOLLY TREE.

"

reader, hast thou ever stood to see

The holly tree:"

The eye that contemplates

it

well perceives

Its glossy leaves

Ordered by an intelligence so wise,

Ab 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 in this wisdom of the holly tree

Can emblems see

Wherewith perchance to make a pleasant rhyme
One wliich may profit in the after-time.
Thus, though abroad perchance I might appear
Harsh and austere,
To those who on my leisure would intrude
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,

AH

vain asperities

day by day

Would wear away,

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

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

84

And, as 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?

my youth appear among

The thoughtless throng,
So would 1 seem amid the young and gay
More gxave than they.
So

serious should

my age as cheerful 1 might be

the green winter of the holly tree."

That in

Ab

ALOE
The
it

bitter.

holds to the

aloe

loves

grow

to

Thus

grief

only by weak roots

soil

desert;

the

in

Bitterness.

Grief.

{^Ahe).

These plants

and

affect

fills

and the sands of Africa are

AGNUS CASTUS.

very

is

world,

our hearts with

almost entirely on

live

and wonderful

grotesque

taste

from the

us

withdraws

detaches us from the earth, and

bitterness.

its

their

Mexico

forms.
native

air,

climes.

Life without love.

Coldness.

Dioscorides, Pliny, and Galienus inform us that the

priestesses

of Ceres formed

their

virginal

couch of

the fragrant branches of this shruB, which covers

with long tufts

they regarded

Nuns used

it

to

and several

or violet flowers, and that

the

palladium of their chastity.

as

drink

banish terrestrial

itself

of white

a water

distilled

thoughts from

orders

of

their

monks wore a

from

it,

to

solitary cells

knife

;'

whose

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLO}VERS.

handle wag
as a sure

made of

the

wood

means of rendering

of the

their

85

agnus castus,

hearts insensible.

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

'*TrrGatli8 of ao;nus castus others bore;

These last, who with those virpii crowns were dressed,

Appeared in higher honor than the rest."

And

their

queen carried a branch of

it

for a sceptre.

FEBRUARY.

SNOWDROP

{Galanthua nivalis).

A &iend

ConBoIation.

in adversity.

" Lone

flower,

hemmed

in with snows, and wliite as fhe7,"

Wordeworth.

" Thou timid snowdrop, raise tbf lovely head."

Barton.

DELICATE blossom Suddenly appears

breaking through the

snowy

veil

which covers the earth, and shows

wondering eyes

its

pure cups,

tipjped with green, as if

Hope had

to our

marked them

for her own.

Expand-

ing amid wintry scenes, this lovely

flower seems to smile at

all

the rigors of. the season,

(86)

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

87

and says, " I come to console you, and whisper the

return of the long, bright, sunny days."
" Already

The

now

the snowdrop dares appear,

pale blossom of the nnripened year;

first

As Flora's breath, by some transforming power,

Had changed an icicle into a flower."
Mrs. SariaiUd.

" Nature deep and mystic word

Mighty mother, still unknown
Thou didst sure the snowdrop gird
With an armor all thine own.

who sent'st it forth alone

the cold and sullen season
(Like a thought at random thrown),
gent it thus for some grave reason."
Barry Cornwall.

Thou,

To

JUNIPER

(Junipenis communis).

Asyliun.

Aid.

This tree was anciently consecrated to the Eumenides

the

smoke of

green branches was the incense which

its

was most preferred to

offer to the infernal deities.

berries were burned at funerals to keep

In Holland they are extensively used

The Chinese and

oflF

now

The

witchcraft.

to flavor gin.

the English like to adorn their gardens

with this wild tree, which accustoms itself with difficulty

to cultivation.

the forest;

Free,

it

loves to

grow on the edge of

weak and timid creatures often seek an

asylum under

its

crouches there, as

long, low boughs.

its

the thrush often confides her family to

its

berries

The hunted hare

strong odor sets the dogs at fault

it,

and fattens on

while the entomologist studies around

its

prickly branches a thousand brilliant insects, which have

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

88

n6 other defence, and seem to guess that

this tree is

destined to protect them.

YEW
The Greeks,

Sadness.

(Taxus baccata).

affected, like us,

by the sad aspect of

this

imagined that the unhappy Smilax, who saw her

tree,

love despised by the young Crocus, was imprisoned in

the bark of a yew.

Its black,

gloomy

foliage,

form, seem to warn us against reposing under

said that

its

juice is poisonous to horses

that if one sleeps under a

yew

see

it

in their cemeteries.

lances,

and cross-bows.

Its

it.

It is

asses,

and

head grows

tree, the

Our

heavy, and suffers violent pain.

and

and ugly

ancestors liked to

wood was used

In Dutch gardens one

for bows,

may

still

see yews clipped into fantastic forms, which recall the

masterpieces of

Le Notre and La

FIELD DAISY
"

(^Bellis

own

formed into a
daisy

with Mr.

life

I will think of

perennia).

fair

daisy.

What

poet has not written of the

Few

will disagree

Miller, that the daisy ought to be

as " Chaucer's flower."

" Lore

queen, who sacri-

to preserve her husband's, was trans-

But one stands preeminent.

Thomas

It.

Si douce est la marguerite."

Chaucer asserts that Alceste, a

ficed her

Quintinie.

He

all

but worshipped

I most these floures white and rede,

Such that were calleu Daisies in our town;

known
it.

TBE LAireUAGE OF FLOWERS.

So honoe

As

have so great

88

affection,

when comen

is tlie Male,
bedde there daweth me no daie
1 am up and walking in the mede,
To see this flower against the sunne sprede;
When it up rlseth early by the morrow,"
That blissful sight softeneth all my sorrow,
So glad am I that when I have presence

I sayd erst,

That
That

in

my

Of

to

done

it

it alle

reverence,

As

she that is of all floures the floure.

Fulfilled of all vertue 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."

In the times of chivalry, when a lady neither accepted

nor rejected a wooer's
of
of

she expressed, by a wreath

suit,

single white daisies,

the sentiment,

"I

will think

it."

" The band of fl.utes began to play,

a lady sung a virelay

To which

And

still at every close she would repeat

The burden of the song. The Daisy is so sweet,
Tbe Daisy is so sweet when she begun.
The troops of knights and dames continued on
The concert, and the voice so charmed my ear
And soothed my soul, that it was heaven to hear."

Drydenfrom 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)

and the other Scotch bards.

a Mountain Daisy "

quoted, that

we

are

is

the

The

so well

gowan of Burns

beautiful " Lines to

known and

forbear to give them.

so often

few stanzas

from a poem by Wordsworth in praise of the daisy find

their place here.

8*

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWEBS.

90
'

ynien Winter decks his few gray hairs,

Thee in the scanty wreath he wears;
Spring parts the clouds with softest
That she may sun thee;

Whole summer

iields arc thine

airs.

by right;

And Autumn,
Doth

in

When

melancholy wight
thy crimson head delight
rains are

on

thee.

In shoals and bands, a morrice train,

greet'st the traveller In the lane;
If welcome once thou count'st it gain;
Thou art not daunted,
Nor oar'st if thou be set at nought,
And oft alone, in nooks remote.
We ,meet thee like a pleasant thought,
When such are wanted.

Thou

Be violets in their secret mews

The flowers the wanton zeph3rrs choose;
Froud be the rose, with rains and dews
Her head impearling;
Thou liv'st with less ambitious aim.
Yet hast not gone without thy fame;
Thou art indeed, by many a claim.

The

poet's darling,
V

smitten by the morning ray,

I see thee rise, alert and gay.
Then, cheerful flower ! my spirits play
With kindred gladness;

When,

And when

at dusk,

by dews oppressed,

Thou sink'st, the image of thy rest

Hath often eased my pensive breast
Of careful sadness."

DOUBLE GARDEN DAISY.

When

the lady of a knight allowed

this flower

affection

I share your feelings.

on his arms,

it

him

to engrave

was a public avowal that

his

was returned.

If left too long in one spot, the garden daisy

is

apt

TBE -LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

The

to degenerate.

roots should be taken

91

up in the

autumn and divided.

" star of the mead, sweet dangbter of the day,
Whose opening flower invites the morning ray
From thy moist cheek, and bosom's chilly fold,
To kiss the tears of eve, the dew-drops cold
Sweet daisy, flower of love when birds are paired,
'TiB 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,
Kejoins his widowed mate in early spring.
And as he prunes his plumes of russet hue.
Swears on thy maiden blossom to be true,
*

.*

Ofb have I watched thy closing buds at eve,

Which for the parting sunbeams seemed to grieve,
And, when gay morning gilt the dew- bright plain,
Seen tbem 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 fields above.
To hall the daisy, flower of faithful love."

The

following beautiful tribute

is

by Montgomery

THE DAISY.
" There is a flower, a little flower.
With silver crest and golden eye.
That welcomes every changing hour,

And

weathers every sky.

The prouder

beauties of the field

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

But this small flower, to nature dear.

While moons and stars their courses
Wreathes the whole circle of the year,
Companion of the sun.

ruji.

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

92

upon the lap of May,

August spreads its charms,
Lights pale October on its way,
It BmileB

To

sultry

And

twines December's arms.

The purple heath and golden broom

On moory mountains catch the gale;
O'er lawns the

The
But

lily

sheds perfume;

violet in the vale.

this bold floweret climbs the hill,

Hides in the forest, haunts the glen.

Flays on the margin of the rill,
Feeps round the fox's den.

Within the garden's cultured round

It shares the sweet carnation's bed.

And blooms on

consecrated ground

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.

page in every place.

In every season, fresh and fair.
It opens with perennial grace,
And blossoms everywhere.
'Tis Flora's

On

waste and woodland, rock and plain.

humble buds unheeded rise;
The rose has but a summer reign.
The daisy never dies."
Its

VIOLET
Ovid
the

tells

Roman

(Viola).

Modesty.

us that violets were strewn as offerings at

feast of the Feralia, kept for their dead.

" The

violet in her

greenwood bower.

Where

May

birchen boughs with hazels mingle.

boast Itself the fairest flower

In glen, or copse, or forest dingle."

Scott.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

"

93

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."

LaTidoTU

Fairest and sweetest of flowers

can be given

some

If

invisible

What more

praise

power should sud-

denly sweep away from the earth every tuft of violets,

could any flower, of garden,

them

Ah, no

field,

copse, replace

or

the very soul of Spring would have

passed away with them.

There
peculiar

among
felt it

is

no fragrance

freshness

all

and

like that

purity

of the violet.

make

it

the odors of the floral kingdom.

stand

alone

Shakspeare

when he wrote of
But sweeter than the

lids

"violets dim.
of Juno's eyes

Or Cytherea's breath,"

The Duke

in Twelfth Night

"That
O,

it

strain again;

came

o'er

my

commands,

had a dying fall;

ear like the sweet south,

it

That breathes upon a bank of

Stealing and giving odor."

And

violets.

at Ophelia's grave Laertes cries,

" Lay her 1' the earth,
unpolluted flesh

And from her fair and

May violets spring."

Barry Cornwall says,

" Dost see yon bank

The sun

Near go

near! for there

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

94

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

the maiden fancy, and fly off
In music to the skies, and there are lost.
These ever-steaming; odors seek tlio sun,
And fade in the light ho scatters."

Winged from

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."

ASDON,

you

we weary

fair reader, if

but

it

seems

fitting

here to

give a brief account

of the cel-

Games

of Toulouse.

ebrated Floral

The south of France was, perhaps, the cradle of

poetry

for

all

while

of the surrounding nations was scarcely

our modern

the

language

formed, the

Proven9al was already a copious, expressive, and elegant tongue.

The

love

for

such progress in Toulouse

polite

during

literature

the

house of Kaymond, that one of the old writers

it

" the flower and rose of

The
scurity

origin
;

but

of the

calls

all cities."

Troubadours goes back to ob-

we know

poetical courts, called

made

reign of the

that through

Puys

d' Amour,

the

middle ages

were of frequent
(95)

Tan languaoe of flowers.

96

The word

occurrence.
Celtic root,

and

comes from

'puy

signifies tribunal.

It

They

a company of seven Troubadours.

of

the

was one of these

established at Toulouse in 1324,

courts which was

court

called

it

by
the

Gai Saber, and poets from Provence,

Languedoc, and Catalonia were

invited

The court assembled annually

fine

in a garden,

a spreading elm made their award.

compete

to

the prize, which was a violet " of

for

supposed

gold."

and under

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 next century, wars, and other circumstances unfavorable

to

the

quiet pursuits

of

litera-

ture and the peaceful pleasures of the garden, caused

such a decline in the

custom

fell

spirit of the age, that this pretty

into disuse.

Then, when a night of igno-

rance and mental indolence seemed settling down upon

these

fair

southern

steps upon the

fields,

scene,

Clemence Isaure suddenly

and rescues her native land

from the demoralizing influence of material force by

encouraging once

and

more the

cultivation

of eloquence

belles-lettres.

This famous lady was of an ancient and illustrious

Toulpusan family.
sessed

all

She

is

graces, both of

have encouraged

in every

represented to have pos-

mind and person, and

way the

revival

to

of letters.

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

97

She caused the Jeux Floraux to be celebrated again

each year, with renewed splendor, and with her

hand bestowed a golden

of her

own

Clemence,

left

in

of the

nearly

on a competitor

eglantine

sex, Antoinette Villeneuve.

never married.
beginning

own

all

spite

of

She

died,

most

the

aged

century,

sixteenth

brilliant

about

ofiFers,

at

the

and by her

will

fifty,

her property to her native

city,

be

to

applied to the encouragement of intellectual develop-

She ordained three golden flowers as prizes

ment.
the

violet, the

old

romance

eglantine, and

prettily says,

" Eglantine

La

est la fleur

violette est

As

marigold.

the

ma

the

que j'alme,
couleur;

Pans Ic soucl tu vols Pemblme

Des chagrins de mou triste coeur,"

This Festival of Flowers, as

four

still,

hundred years

is

it

after its

the contests of the present day are in

survives

called,

foundation

though

modern French,

which scarcely equals, for poetical purposes, the more

flexible

and impassioned Provengal.

The ceremonies begin with a

on the third of May.

eulogy of Clemence Isaure,

sioners go

the

high

in

pomp

altar

of

It is celebrated

to

the

after

which the commis-

take the prize flowers from

church of

Oaurade, where Isaure was

Our Lady de

interred.

la

Meantime the

Secretary reports on the pieces offered by the concurrents,

and on

the return
9

of

the

commissioners the

TBE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS,

98

Formerly

prizes are awarded.

the victors

to

cover with

it

go in procession
shower

of

was the custom

the marble tomb

roses

Clemence, in compliance with a request in her

The

which adorned

statue

this

for

and

the church,

to

of

will.

tomb was removed

the town hall in 1557, and a few years later

its

to

coro-

nation with roses was substituted for the strewing on

the grave, the religious authorities
as a relic of

pagan

objecting to that

rites.

Four flowers have been added

since the time of Isaure

to

the

first

three,

and the amaranth now usurps

the place of the violet as the flor sohrana or sover-

The

eign flower.
follows

A
A
A

prizes

at

the

present day are as

golden amaranth for the best ode.

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

poem, or

epistle

in verse.

silver

marigold for an eclogue,

idyl,

elegy,

or

ballad.

A
A

silver

primrose for the best fable or apologue.

silver lily for

a sonnet or

hymn

in

honor of the

Virgin Mary.

silver

pink

is

under either head.

given as a prize of encouragement

Ie must say a few words, too,

about the celebrated Garland

Madame

of Julia.

de Genlis

informs us that the Guirlande

de Julie was a piece of gallantry imagined by
tere

the beautiful Julie

de .ambouillet.

was promised him,

it

to

became

the aus-

Due de Montausier,

for

After her hand

his duty, in conformity

an old custom, to send his future bride a bouquet

every day until the wedding.

here.
folio

He

But he did not

stop

caused to be painted on vellum, in a large

volume, by the best

flowers cultivated

artists,

the

most beautiful

and the most distinguished poets

of the time wrote verses on each flower.

The volume,
(99)

THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

100

magnificently bound, was placed upon

ing table on the wedding day.

ment of

tlie

bride's dress-

This interesting monu-

the delicate gallantry of the seventeenth cen-

tury passed into foreign hands during the Revolution,

and
is

in

1795 was

unknown.

at

Hamburg.

Its

present possessor

DIRECTIONS
IN

THE USE OF FLOWEKS.

EEE

follows a brief

summary of

directions for the use of the floral

language.

Any noun
verb

or

The present

ground
are

by presenting

the future, by raising

three persons

first,

it
it

when

necessary.

tense is expressed

with the arm towards the

There

as high as the eyes.

second, and third.

For the

present the flower horizontally, with the right hand.

by

the flower as high as the

holding
heart; the past,

can be changed to a

adjective

(101)

first,

For

TEE LASGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

102

the second, with the

the third, present
the plural

it

same hand, but held

with the

left

to the

Two

hand.

For

leil.

flowers indicate

a flower upside down, negation.

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

when

in " Les Fleurs Animees

as for

note

"

flowers are scarce,

instance

in

this

" Wormwood has no crown imperial on bittersweet myrtle.

You know

I have a serpent cactus of whortleberry.

plant upside

down

Liverwort,

we

are cistus.

Musk

Banish

all

marigolds, and pansy only of the sweet sultan of our pimpernel.

Myrtle as high as the heart, and myrtle as high as the

eyes forever."

Jacobus.

Translated

reads,

it

Absence has no power on true

a horror of treachery.
secure.

Banish aU

No

griefs,

love.

weakness

You know

I have

Confidence,

we

are

and think only of the happiness of

our meeting.
I love you,

and

shall love

you forever.
Jacobus.

The colored
of a

plate gives an idea of the. arrangement

floral sentence.

It is a translation of

by the Chevalier Parny.

some verses

 Fairies use flowers

for their charactery."

Shakspeare,

" The tongue that

When

erst

was spoken by the

elves,

tenderness as yet within the world

" Souvent, d'nne amante

ofi'ens^e,

Quelques fleurs calment

SouTent, du

Flore sert

flls
!i

was new."

conrronx;

le

de Cythr^e,

cacher les coups."

Old I'rench Poet.

(104)

DICTIONARY

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

Alimptueaa, Borage,
Absence, Wormwood*

Acconunodating disposition,

Valerian.
(105)

DICTIONARY OF TBE

106
Activity, Thyme.
A.

See p.

34.

friend In adTergity, Snowdrop.

See p.

86.

Altertliouglit, Large-jUnoered Aster,

The large-flowered
become

who

It

scarce.

aster begins to

as

is,

it

bloom when other flowers

were, the afterthought of Flora,

smiles while leaving us.

Agitation, Rlwdodend/ron.

Honey made from

the flowers of the rhododendron was

anciently supposed to cause delirium,

and very probably some

of the species possess poisonous qualities.

is

most

the

American shrubs.

brilliant of all

but beautiful azaleas belong to

AlvFays clieerful.

Undoubtedly

The

less

this

showy

this family.

Coreopsis.

Always remembered,

EverJasUng,

Ajn1>ition, SollyTtock.

Amiability, Jasmine. Seep. 48.

Anger,

The

Corse, or Furze.

furze blossom resembles the broom, but the plant

very prickly.
in
it

It

grows

any other country.

England than

It is said that Linnaeus,

when he saw

for the first time, near

tured

them

and, carrying
in

London,

some plants

hot-house.

Virgil

fell

to

on his knees enrap-

Sweden, tried to

mentions

the furze.

speaks of
" downs, where sweet air stirs
Blue harebells lightly, and where prickly flirze

Buds

is

in greater profusion in

lavish gold."

" Here the fhrze,

Enriched among its spires with golden flowers,
Scents the keen air."
Charlotte Smith.

raise

Keats

LANQUAGE OF FLOWERS.

107

uoslty, St. Johrii Wort.

" Hypericnm beneath each sheltering bash

Its healing yirtue modestly conceals."

Dodsleg.

Artifice, Clematis.

To

excite

commiseration, beggars sometimes

produce on

themselves, by applying the juice of the clematis, factitious

sores.

This infamous

Arts, Acanthus.

See p.

Asylum, Aid,

Juniper,

artifice

sometimes

25.

See p.

87.

Audacity, Larch.
Austerity,

Thistle.

Beauty ever

Be

my

ueiv. Monthly Ease,

support. Black Bryony.

Beloved dangbter,

CinqutfoH.

Beneficence, Marshmdllow.

Ejeep. $1,

results in real ulcers.

DICTIONAEr OP THE

108
Benevolence,

The reader
potato.

Potato.
is

referred to

Humboldt

for the history of the

In England, in the reign of James

I., it

was consid-

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

the

for

queen's

household.

Bradley, an

extensive

writer on horticultural subjects at the beginning of the eigh-

teenth century,

says

of potatoes,

" They are of less note

than horseradii,h, radish, scorzonera, beets, and skirret

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

It

was unknown

Saxony as

in

but

them by

late as 1740, but

cultivated earlier in Switzerland.

Parmentier, by the most persevering labors, succeeded in

introducing the cultivation of this useful regetable into France,
in the reign

of Louis XVI.

It

had been known

in Italy

long before.

Benevolence,

The poets

Syacinth.

are not agreed whether the hyacinth sprung from

the blood of Ajax or that of Hyacinthus

so designate

was probably a kind of

lily,

but the flower they

and not our modern

This, however, does not lack praise.

hyacinth.

HyaciuthB, with their graceful .bells,

Where the spirit of odor dwells."

Miss Landon,
'

The hyacinth, purple, white, and blue.

Which fluugf from its bells a sweet peal anew
Of music 80 delicate, soft, and intense.
It was felt like an odor .within the sense."
Shelley.

" Shaded hyacinth, alway

Sapphire queen of the mid-May."
Keats.

In the bower of Eve,

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

Of costliest emblem."

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
The

109

curling petals furnished Milton with a simile in de-

Adam.

scribing

" Hyacinthine locks

Round from

hia parted forelock

manly hung

Clustering."

Collins, too, speaks of

" The youth whose locks divinely spreading

Like vernal hyacinths."

The
wear

of the ancients was supposed to

poetical Hyacinth
,

" His hitter sorrows painted on his bosom."

**

Aa poeta feigned, from Ajax* streaming blood

Arose, with grief Inscribed, a mournful flower."
Toung.

" In the flower he weaved

his sighs which beara

The sad impression of

Ai Ai displayed in

funeral characters."

Scmdys's Ovid.

" Camna, reverend sir, went footing alow,

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

Beivare, Oleander.
Birth, Dittany of

When

Crete.

Juno, under the

name

birth of children, she wore

of Lucina, presided at the

a wreath of dittany.

odor and medicinal qualities, which caused

by the
isle

ancients,

make

it

still

valued.

it

Its

good

to be esteemed

It is a native of the

of Crete.

In Martyn's Botany we read,

"Dittany of Crete has the

small purple flowers collected in loose, nodding heads

stalks are pubescent, purplish,

from their sides by pairs

10

the

and send out small branches

the leaves are round, thick, and so

DICTIONARY OF THE

110

wooDy

as to be quite white

the whole plant has a piercing,

aromatic scent and biting taste."

Botany, gives a figure of

Boman

it,

and

Woodville, in his Medical

says, "

Both

the Greek and

writers have fabled this plant into great celebrity j of

which a

single instance, related

beautiful illustration."

Bltternesg, Aloe.

See p.

by the Latin poet,

afifords

See ^neid XII. 411-416.

81.

Hlaclcness, Ebony Tree,

Blemish,
Boldness,

The

Henbaiie,
La/rch.

larch

is

often found at a prodigious elevation

tains.

Bonds

of love, HoneymoUe. Seep. 28,

Calmness, SucKbean. Bee p.

Calumny, Madder.
Candor, WMtc

Violet.

21,

on moun-

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Caprlclong Beanty, Musk

Ill

Rose.

This capricious rose will languish in situations which at

appeared most favorable to

first

at

One year

it.

loaded with flowers, and the next

it will

will

it

be

refuse to blossom

all.

Cbagrln, Marigold. See p.

Change,

56.

Pimpernel.

Always closing before

rain, it denotes

a change of weather.

Chastity, Orange Blossom.

Coarseness, Crossness, Pompion, or Pumpkin.

Coldness, Agmes Castm. See p.

Compassion,

The elder
their

81.

Elder.

said to furnish quack doctors with

is

most successful remedies.

many of

The great Boerhaave

is

said

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

ence, that he
berries

would take

make a very

off his

hat

when passing

Elder

it.

excellent wine.

Conceit, Pomegranate.

pomegranate in Spanish

of Granada

is

is

granada; and the kingdom

said to have derived

its

name from

granate trees planted there by the Moors

the pome-

which

is

quite

probable, from a cleft pomegranate' being represented on

arms.

Confession o< love, Rosebud.

See p. 42.

Confidence, Liverwort.

Conjugal love.

Linden, or Lime,

See p. 33.

its

DICTIONARY OF TBE

112

Consolation, Snowdrop.

Cowley

Corn Poppy-

says,

*'

ludulg^ent Ceres

And

knew my worth,

td adorn the teeming earth

She bade the poppy blow."

Constancy, Canterbury
Coolness,

Lettuce.

Coqnetry, Morning

Courage, Black

The

Glory.

See p. 62.

Poplar.

tree is consecrated to Hercules.

Cruelty,

The

Bell.

Nettle.

sting of the

mechanism of the
by looking

nettle

sting

at a leaf

is

causes a pain like a

similar to a bee's, as

under the microscope.

Deceitful charmg, Datura, See p.

Declaration of love.

Tulip,

58.

See p. 20

bum.

The

may be

seen

LANG UA GE OF FLO WEBS.

113

Dejection, Lupine.
" Tristes lupini."
Virgil.

beautiful white lupine

is

found wild in North America.

All the species have

rich, velvety leaves,

color in their flowers

is

Delicacy,

and the variety of

very great.

Bluebottle.

Departure, Sweet Pea.

The dark sweet pea

is

a native of Sicily; and the

light,

of Ceylon.
*'

Here are sweet peas, on tiptoe for a flight,

With wings of gentle flush o'er delicate white,

And

taper lingers catching at

To bind them

all

all

things.

about with tiny rings."

Keats.

Desertion, Anemmie (Wmdjlower).

Anemone was a nymph heloved 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

who shakes

soon destroys

unhappy beauty

to the rough caresses

the blossom, rudely opens

it.

Desire, Jonquil.

Thomson speaks

of

" Jonquils of potent fragrance."

And

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

Prior, too,

" The smelling tuberose and jonquil declare

The stronger impulse of the evening air."

10 *

air.

it,

and

DICTIONAET OF THE

114

Of

the

same famUy

are Shakspeare's daffodils,

" That come before the swallow dares, and take

The winds of March with beauty."
]>e8lre to please, Mezereon.
]>e'Fotion, Passion Flower,
Dlfficnltteg, Black Thorn.

Discretion, Maiden Hair,

Disdain, Sue,
" There's rue for you
of grace o' Sundays

and here's some for me

we may call it herb
wear your rue with a difference,"
:

you may

" Here did she drop a tear; here, in this place,

I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace;
Eue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen
In the remembrance of a weeping queen."
Shakspeare.

Before the Beformation, priests used to sprinkle the people

in

church with bunches of rue dipped in the holy water;

hence the name of Herb of Grace

o'

Sundays.

Disguise, Thorn Apple.

Distinction, Cardinal

The

Floujer.

cardinal flower, or scarlet lobelia,

splendid American flowers.

It

Britain in 1629, and Justice

says of

is

one of the most

was introduced
it,

"A

into

handsome appearance, which should not be wanting

gardens, as
ness of

it

excels all other flowers I ever

knew

its scarlet color.''

Docility, Rush.

Do me

Justice, Chestnut.

Do not abuse me,

Saffron Crocus,

Doration, Continuance, Cornelian

Cherry,

Great

flower of most

Seep.

78.

in curious

in the rich-

LANGUAGE OW FLOWEBS,

Ilgotlgni, Poet's Narcissus,

Ulegance, Hose
Xile-ratlon,

See p.

lis

32,

Acacia.

Mr.

Hloquence, Water IMy.

"

Brilliant thyself in store of dazzling

Thy

sister plants

wMte,
more gaady robes unfold

This flames in purple; that, intensely bright

Amid

the illumined waters,

To brave

Osiris' fiery

Till in the distant

Thou,

beam

bums

in gold.

is thine,

west his splendors fade;

too, thy beauties and thy fire decline.

With morn

to rise, in lovelier charms arrayed.

Thus from Arabia, borne on golden wings,

The phoenix on the sun's bright altar dies,
But from his flaming bed refulgent springs,
And cleaves with bolder plume the sapphire

slcies."

T. Mavrice.

The Egyptians consecrated the

quence, and

it

lotus to

the god of elo-

forms part of the head-dress of Osiris,

East Indian gods are often represented in the midst of

The
'water,

DICTIONARY OF TBE

116

seated on a lotus flower.

Perhaps

it

be an emblem of

may

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 suu^s awake."

Camdeo, or Cama, the Indian Cupid, has

water

lily's

The

and

breast,"

true lotus

floats

its

his nest " in the

leaves.

the red nymphaea of Hindustan.

is

blue lotus, according to

Sir

own white

The

William Jones, grows only

The rose-colored water

Cashmere and Persia.

resemble our

on

lilies

in

of Bengal

ones, except that they are of larger

size.

We
Geibel,

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

"Die

Wasser

stille

rose."

" The quiet water lily

Floats on the lakelet blae;
Its soft leaves glow and glisten,
Its cup of snowy hue.
fair moon smileth on her,
Through all the summer night,
And on her fragrant bosom

The

Fours

all

her golden light.

Over the rippling water

Glideth a snow-white swan;
singeth sweet and softly.

He

The

He

lily

singeth sweet and softly;

Thus

gazing on.

will his death-song flow;

snow-white flower.
Dost thou its meaning know
flower,

XlncliantiueiiLt, Vervain,

See p. 60,

LANGUAGE OF FLO WEES.

117

Xjncouragemextt, Golden Rod.

This flower, so

common

in the autumn,

valued, and used in medicine.

to

the high price

London, " This

brought

it

is

till

after alluding

discovered growing near

our English proverbe,

verifieth

and deere bought

was anciently much

Gerarde says,

'

Far

fetcht

Thus much I have

best for the ladies.'

spoken to bring these new-fangled fellowes back againe to

esteeme better of this admirable plant."

Sndurance,

The pine

Pine.

disdains the peaceful quiet of the garden

dew of

to bathe its head in the

age beaten by the winds.

the clouds,

Stripped of

on the ocean, to brave the tempests

its

and

it

loves

feel its foli-

branches,

it floats

there.

Xlnergy In adversity, Camomile.

Camomile grows the more by being trampled

aromatic flowers are well

known
"

Of broad

on.

Its bitter

for their virtues.

He

the root

and tufted flower

Of creeping camomile, impregnates deep
With powers carminative."
angelica,

Dodsley.

Eavy,

Briers.

Error, Bee

Orchis.

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

as to frequently deceive.

Esteem,

Sage.

The sage

brilliant

The

is

The

virtues.

and

its

medicinal and culinary

some of the

species are exceedingly

justly esteemed for

flowers of

beautiful.

ancients have left us several proverbs' showing their

DICTIONABT OF THE

118
appreciation of

lowing :

Among them

tMs heib.

find the

-vre

fol-

" Salvia cum ruta faciunt

tibi

pocula tuta."

" Salvia salvatrix, naturae conciliatrlx."

" Cur moriatur homo cui salvia crcaoit in liorto ?
Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in bortis."

Faltb, Passion Mower.

The

different species of the passion flower are natives of

South America.

who

first

The name was given by the

discovered

Saviour's passion.

it,

as they

The ten

the ten faithful apostles

around the

thi-ead
pillar

hands

saw

in it

petals were supposed to indicate

the stamens, a glory

style, the

missionaries

the emblems of our

crown of

thoi-ns

the purple

the style, the

of scourging! the tendrils, the cords; the leaves, the

;

the three divisions of the style, the three nails

of the five stamens, a

The time of

three

hnmmer

days between

the
its

one

other four, the cross.

opening and closing,

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
parallel, in the eyes

completed the

119

of the simple and pious

fathers.

Falsehood, Buglou.

See p.

26.

Falseness, Mamchineel Tree,

Its fruit

looks very good, and, by

one to taste

fidious juice,

caustic as to
ellers
is

but

its

which

bum

soft,
is

spongy

its

agreeable odor, invites

flesh contains a milky, per-

at first insipid, but soon

becomes so

the Ups, the palate, and the tongue.

Trav-

say that the best remedy against a poison so violent,

on whose shores

the water of the sea,

this

tree

always

grows.

False Blches,

Fecundity,

Sunflamer.

See p.

63.

Hollyliock.

The Chinese represent Nature crowned with these

The hollyhock was brought from

flowers.

Syria, in the time of the

crusades.
See p.

Festl-rlty, Parileil.

75.

Fidelity, Speedwell, or Veronica.

One

of the loveliest flowers in

all

the realm of nature.

Tennyson does not forget

" The

And Dupont,
it is

little

in his

speedweU's darling blue."

charming piece.

dewdrop tinged by

transformed to a flower.

La

Vironigue, says that

reflected light,

He

which Aurora has

goes on to say,

"O

fleur iDSaisissable et pure,

Saphir dODt nul ne salt le prix,
MeIez-rou8 a la chevelure

De

celle

dont je suis ^pris

DICTIONARY OF TBE

120

Folntillez dans la monsseline

Be

Bou blanc pei^oir entr'ouTert,

t dans

la porcelaine fine

Oil sa livre bolt le tb^ vert.

r^roniques, sous les chines

Fleurissez pour lee eimples cceurB,
Qui, dans les traverses bumames,
Vont chercbant Ics petites fleurs,"

Fidelity In misfortune, WaU Flower. See p.

61,

Finesse, Sweet William,

Fire, Fraxinella.

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

which forms an

inflammahle atmosphere

fraxinella,

around

it,

easily

ignited by the approach of a lighted candle.

First emotions of love,

Flame, German

lAlac,

See p.

18.

Iris.

The German peasants sometimes plant

roofs of their cottages.

wave

The sun,

in the breeze, produces a flame-like appearance.

Flattery, Venua's Looking

It is related that

shepherd picked
his mistress,

it

Glass.

Venus dropped one of her

toy,

and changed

campanula, which
Folly,

it,

and thought only of admu-ing himself,

all

still

its

retains its

silly

forgot

for the

who looked

Love, fearing the consequences of such a

broke the

mirrors.

up, and as soon as he looked in

mirror had the gift of making beautiful

it.

on the

this flower

gilding the petals as they

in

error,

fragments into this pretty

name.

Colunibine.

Its flowers,

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

LANGUAGE OF FLOWBBS.
Foreslgbt, BoUy. See p.

121

82.

Forgetfnlnesg, Satin FIoukt, or Bonesty

Kene, 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

them
It

for

their tardiness

it

to his people to reproach

in delivering

him from

captivity.

seems to have been used in magical incantations, for we

find in Drajrton,

" Enchanting Lnnarie here

In sorceries excelling."

And

in

Lalla Kookh,

Namouna

puts

lies,

in

the

chaplet

of

Nourmahal
" the white moon-flower, as it shows,
Serendib's higfh crags, to those
near the isle at evening sail."

On

Who
Forget
.

me

not, Forget-me-not,

See p.

Forgiveness at Injnrles, Cinnamon

*^

The
cassia

60.

Tree.

The dream of the

injured, patient mind.

That smiles with the wrongs of men.
Is found in the brnised and wounded rind
Of the cinnamon, sweetest then."
Moore,

commerce must not be confounded with the

cassia of

which bears a beautiful yellow flower in our green-

houses.

Forsaken, Common Widow.

Fragility, Fuchsia.

Frankness,

Osier,

Fraternal love,

Syringa,

king of Egypt, one of the Ptolemys, was celebrated

11

fijr

DICTIONARY OF THE

122

his love to his brother.

Ms

brother),

His surname, Philadelphus (loving

this species of syringa, which was

was given to

consecrated to his memory.

Friendship,

See p. 66,

Ivy.

Frivolous amnsement, Bladder

Frugality, Succory, Endive,
This plant

is

Tree,

or Chiccory.

mentioned by Horace
" me pascunt

Me

CFuliig, Piane, or Platant.

Tree.

See p.

See p, 81.

Good education,

olivae,

being of cooling and antiscorbutio

properties.

Glory, Laurel.

cichorea, levesque malvse.'*

It is useful in medicine,

Giddiness, Almond

Chffrry Tree,

19.

LANGUAGE OF FL0WEB8.
Good

fortune, Mugwort. See p.

Goodness,

123

47.

Snowball, or Guelder Rose.

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

and

Gerald Massey writes,

" ZaAj of the

forest

Ib the silver birk;

Shimmering in the sunshine,

Shivering at the mirk
*

'Hid the dance of colors

And

semitones of green.

Gleams this daintier spirit

That in leafdom is the queen."

A wine

made from

esteemed.
is

the juice of the bu-ch was once highly

The fragrant Russia

leather used in bookbinding

prepared with the empyreumatic

Grandenr,

oil

of the birch.

Aeh.

The miraculous

Ygdrasil of the Edda, with

tree

reaching to heaven and

its

its

top

roots to hell, was an ash.

Gratitude, Cam^Uia, Agrimony.

The camellia

japonica, as its

from Japan, and

the

is

country and in China.

The name camellia

name shows, comes

ornament of every garden

to

us

in that

It well repays careful cultivation.

is

from George Camellus, a missionary,

and author of a work on botany.

Agrimony has a
dielike

it,

but

bitter

it is

and slightly aromatic

taste.

Cattle

thought to have some useful medicinal

qualities.

Grief, Garden Marigold.

See p.

56.

DICTIONABT OF TBE

124

Happiness,

Sweet Sultan,

native of Turkey.

Hatred, BasU.

The Greek name of this herb

royal; but

signifies

its identity

with, or similarity to, that of a fabulous creature supposed

to kill by a single glance, has caused basil to become' the

emblem of hate, hatred being

Poverty

is

said to have eyes like the basilisk.

sometimes figured as a

woman

covered with rags,

seated beside a plant of basiL

Healing, Balm of GUead.

The true balm of

aderms,

is

therefore

Gilead, produced

by the Amyris

never to be met with pure, except in the East

its

place

is

usually supplied

and

by the American balm

of Gilead, which exudes from a beautiful

resembles the Oriental balm in most of

Heart

Gile;

its

'species

of

fir,

and

essential qualities.

left to desolation. Chrysanthemum,

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

China

this.

as of

many

was introduced

the native country of the chrysan-

is

other of our most valued flowers, whence

into

Europe

It is a favorite with

in 1789.

gardeners throughout India, and very beautiful dwarf plants

of

it

are reared for in-door decoration.

BCidden merit,

Coriander.

The aromatic seeds of

tioners

this plant are

insufferable, as the

Hope, Hawthdm,
Horror, Serpent

name

koris expresses.

See p. 23,

Cuctus.

Hogpitality, Oak.

See p. 73.

HanUllty, Bindweed.

I adore yon,
I

much used by

confec-

and physicians; but the odor of fresh coriander

am yonr

Beliotrope.

See p. 62.

captive, Peach Blossom.

11*

is

DICTIONART OF THE

126
I cling to tbee,
X die
X feel

neglected, Laurestme.

it

your

Linen,

See p. 80.

and paper remind us every instant of

lace,

make

Pea.

benefits, Flax.

The seeds are used

useful plant.
also

CMck

Vetch, or

a useful drink

this

in preparing poultices, and

while the

expressed from them

oil

is invaluable to painters.

Xllness, Garden Anemone.

In some provinces the anemone

air,

and cause various maladies.

is

thought to poison the

Ovid makes the anemone

spring from the blood of Adonis.

" Could Pluto's queen with jealous tary storm.
'

And Mentha

to a fragrant herb transform

Yet dares not Venus with a change

And

surprise,
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."
Tr. by Mtisden,

Immortality, Amaranth.
Impatience,

See p.

74.

Salsamine.

The impatient

seed-vessels

of the

suddenly at the slightest touch.

balsamine burst open

LANGUAGE OF FLOWEHS.

127

Importunity, Burdock.

The burdock takes possession of good ground, from which

it is

very dliBcult to extirpate

famiUar to

it.

The attachment of the burrs

Unprepossessing as the burdock

to clothing

is

appears,

seems to be a useful plant.

it

all.

The roots and

are said to be eatable, either boiled or in salad.

on

its

rough leaves, which are also used as a poultice

the seeds are

recommended

Kudependeiice,

WUd

as

good

stalks

Snails feed
;

and

to fatten poultry.

Plum,

This indocile tree dislikes to be pruned or transplanted.

IndiiTeremce, Candy Tuft.

I never tronMe, Rose Leaf.

The well-known reply of Dr. Zeb

Amadan

to the academicians of

illustrates this sentiment.

Infidelity, TeUoio Hose.

Ii^nstlce, Hop,

Innocence,

Innocence, or Houstonia cmmlea,'

" It comes when wakes the pleasant spring,

When

first

the earth

is

Four white or pale blue

green;

leaves

it

hath,

With yellow heart between.

It

grows about a heap of stones,

For there the dew will stay;

It springs beside the dusty road,

Where children are at play.

with stars the grassy bank

That slopes adown the brook,

It dots

And there it takes a deeper

And there a fresher look.

blue,

DICTIONART OF TBE

128

thee Innocence, sweet one;

it thee beseems,
For thou art cherished in the heart,

"We

pall

And

well

With

childhood's sinless dreams."

Mn.

Seba Smith,

Inspiration, Angelica.

This beautiful plant, which grows in the remotest countries

of the north, forms a crown for the Lapland poets,
lieve that its sweet

The Flora Medica

and the

who

be-

odor gives inspiration.

says, "

root, both fresh

and

The

leaf

and

seeds,

dried, are tonic

when

recent,

and carminative,

and may be considered the most elegant aromatic of our

By

northern climes.

much

is

The former use

cinal purposes.

pectoral affections

an

the Laplanders and Icelanders angelica

in request, both as an article of food and for medi-

article of food;

it

many

for

catarrhal and

the stalks, roasted, are used by them as

and we are

told,

by

Sir

George Mackenzie,

that the Icelanders eat the stems and roots raw with butter.

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

and made into an agreeable sweetmeat.

is

extolled as a panacea for

Intemperance,

all

the

ills

By Gerarde
of

angelica

life."

Grape,

Pliny mentions a vine six hundred years old.

The vine

at

Hampton

Com-t, in the year 1816, produced

a ton of grapes.
Intrinsic wortH, Gentian,

The name
of lUyria.
cine,

the

is

said to

Some

be derived from Gentianus, a king

varieties of the gentian are

root being an excellent bitter.

used in medi-

Brj'ant has

the praises of the beautiful fringed gentian, and

sung

we quote

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

129

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

lovely flower.

SONNET
TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN.
" Oft had I beard thy beauty praised, dear flower.
And often Bought for thee through field and wood;
Yet could I never find the secret bower
Where thou dost lead, in maiden solitude,

cloistered

life, until,

this

autumn day.

Beside a tree that shook her golden hair

And laughed at death, flaunting her rich array,
I found thee, blue as the still depths of air

Seen leagues away, between the pine-wood bonghg.

O, never^yet a gladder sight hath met
These eyes of mine
Depart, before the snows
Of hastening winter thy fringed garments wet
Thine azure flowers should never fade nor die.
But bloom, exhale, and gain their native sky."
The New Path, Oct.,
!

1865.

I prefer yon. Base Geranium.

Irony, Sardonia.
This plant, of the ranunculus family, has some resemblance
to pai'sley.

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 survive yon. Black MuTberty,

The reader
in

La

1 share

yonr

snrmonnt

I vrlU

is

referred to the history of

Pyramus and Thisbe,

Fontaine.

feelings. Double Daisy.

everytliiug,

think of

it,

Mistletoe.

See p.

See p.

Single Field Daisy.

90.

78.

See p. 88.

DICTIONARY OF TBE

130

Jojr,

Wood

Sorrel, or OxalU.

Justice shall be done yon, Fragrant CoUa/oot.

Keep your promises, Plum

third year.

is

70.

Tree.

This tree blossoms profusely every year

of this useless ornament

Seep.

removed,

it

but unless some

bears fruit only every

LANGUAGE OP FLOWERS.

Xiastlng beauty, Comnwn GlUyflmcer. See

Iie-rlty,

liife,

p. S4.

Iilgbtnegg, Larkspur.

Lucem,

Liove, Myrtle.

Sed Daimash Hose,

linxary, Horterchextnut. See p.

Kfi^estjr,

WMte LUy. See p.

63.

18.

See pp. 21i 36.

DICTIONAUT or THE

132
Maternal

love, MoSB,

See p.

79.

meanness. Dodder.
the dodder germinates in the ground

The seed of
soon as
itself to

stem encounters that of another plant,

its

it;

the juices of

and

the root dries up,

expense of the other.

Dead

TTegMnff Willow.
**

vile

but as
fastens

lives entirely at the

it

parasite, it

supporter, and soon kills

its

Melaucholjr,

Like a

it

Leaves.

absorbs

all

it.

See p.

18.

The melancholy days are come.

The saddest of the year,

Of wailing 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."

Bryant.

modern French

poet, V. de Laprade, has also written a

beautiful poem, beginning Feuilles, tomhez.

Message, Common Garden

Iris.

There are more than thirty

varieties of the

and beautiful colors have caused

lovely messenger of the gods.

Florentine

The Persian

iris.

Misau^Jbiropy.

to be

it

Orris root
iris is

iris.

Its varied

named from
is

the

the root of the

very fragrant.

Teasel.

Mistrust, iMvender,
It

was formerly believed that asps had their lurking-places

under

lavender,

with mistrust.
for headaches

and

therefore

Lavender

is

this

plant was approached

a grateful perfume, and a specific

and nervousness.

LANGUAGE OF PLOWEBS.
modest Worth,
Modesty, Blue

mourning.

Primrose. See p.

Tiolet.

See p.

133

24.

92.

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

71>

SCnslc, Seeds.

Pan formed

the Arcadian pipe from

tlie

reeds into which

Syrinx was transformed.

niy best days are past, Meadow

Saffron.

Seep.

9xy gratitude exceeds your cares, Dahlia.

68.

Seep.

65.

Walvetfe, Silver Weed-

Native grace.

Cowslip.

Shakspeare makes the servant of the fairy queen say,-

"The

cowslips

tall

her penslonere be;

In their gold coata spots you see:

Those be rubies, fairy favors;
In those freckles live their savors
I must go seek some dew-drops here.

And hung
12

a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

DICTIONARY OF THE

134
nVeatnegg, Broom,

The broom

ia

found wild in Europe.

Burns says

ionaceous, yellow flower.

It is a fragrant, papilin 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 tareckan,
Wl' the bum stealing under the lang yellow broom."

And

Shakspeare mentions

Whose shadow

"broom grores.
the dismissed bachelor lores.

Being lass-lorn."

IVoTelty,

DaWa.

See p.

Obstacle, Sest-harrow.

Occnpatlon,

Bhind
it

See p.

27.

Foxglove.

says, "

to the notice

in the

S5.

The beauty of

of the

florist,

garden parterre.

It

this plant

and

it is

also

has recommended

accordingly often found

forms an ornamental and

many woodland and mountain

conspicuous

object in

in Scotland

and Wales.

Among

the country people

scenes
it

has

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
In the south of Scotland

received various names.

called

'

bloody fingers

In Wales

called

it is

'

135

in

'

the north,

dead man's

bells.'

common name

origin of the

The foxglove

and not, as misspelled, foxglove."

'folk's glove,'

still

it is

Fairies were often called

fairies' gloves.'

'folks;' hence, no doubt, the

'

has very powerful medicinal qualities, especially in dropsy,

and

to retard the circulation.

be administered

It requires to

The

with great caution, being a violent poison.

value

it

Italians

so highly that they have a proverb, " Aralda tutte le

piaghe sana'' (Foxglove cures

hurts).

all

the purple or red, and the white.

There are two kinds,

poet writes,

" Here the spotted foxglove dwells.

Kinging oft

And

its fairy belle;

its sister,

purely white.

Makes the shady

places bright.

Like that maiden mild and young

By Spenser's magic numbers sung."

Oracle, Dandelion.

The dandelion
to prepare

made

a.

is

bitter,

and

feathery seed-globes

are

used as a salad, as greens, as a

kind of

cofiee.

Its

to give various prophecies;

hence

its

meaning, oracle.

Ornament, Hornbeam.
Under the najne of
principsd

can
it

still

charmille, this fine tree

was formerly the

ornament of the great gardens of France

see at Versailles

in his compositions.

how

the famous

and one

Le N6tre employed

Father Bapin has eulogized

it

in

verse.

Ostentation, Peony.

The peony was

have used

it

called from the

in medicine,

Greek Pseon, who

and cured Pluto, by

its

is

said to

means, of a

136

DICTIONARY OF THE

wound

inflicted

peony.

by Hercules.

The herbaceous one

There are two kinds of the

is

found native in Europe and

Asia; the shrubby one comes from China and Japan.

Painful recollections,
Patience,

J^atience.

A kind

of dock.

Flos Adonis,

See p.

52*

Patriotism, Nasturtium.

Peace,

Olive.

Neptune disputed with Minerva about naming the new

of Athens, and
gift to

horse,

An

man

it

should give the name.

Minerva the

olive tree,

Neptune produced the

and she was

English author says of the olive

compared

to

city

was agreed that the one who gave the best

a willow;

it

differs,

victorious.

tree,

"It has been

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

known by

the

precisely that tint familiarly

The under

turned up by the lightest breeze,

covered

Vfith olive

its

of this

butter,

and

dairy, as

tree

for

the

feel at least as

an

article

is

gardens becomes visible in the form of a

of the south of Europe employ the

fruit

olive.

progress over the valleys

The

cloud gliding across the landscape.

silver

name of

and as the foliage

side is of shining whiteness,

same purposes

much

of food, as

as

dislike to the

we may

inhabitants

expressed from the

oil

we employ

produce of the

feel to the

use of

oil."

Buffini has set this last fact charmingly before his readers in

the beautiful story of " Doctor Antonio."

Pensive beauty, Ldbumum,

Pensiveness,

Cowslip,

Perfect excellence, Strawberry. See p.

Perpetual pleasure,

33.

Everlasting Pea,

Perseverance, Magnolia.

The magnolia grandijlora

production of the

New

the most superb vegetable

is

World.

Carolina to the Isthmus of Darien.

is

found in China.

The

Its region

We

is

from South

are also told that

it

peculiar and fascinating odor of the

magnolia flower can never be forgotten

if

once inhaled.

Petulance, Barberry.

The

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

est touch the stamens contract

12*

around the

pistil.

DICTIONARY OF THE

138
Platonic love,

Lo(MSt.

See p. 62i

Pleasantry, Balm Mintt or Lemon Balm,

An

infusion of

Poetry, Eglantme.

it

tends to exhilarate.

See p. IS,

Pofver, Crown Imperial.

Preference, Apple Blossom,

Presage, Bainy Marigold,

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

If

does not open, or closes before

it

its

hour,

it is

considered a sure sign of rain.

Presumption, Snapdragon,
Pretension, Willow Berb,
This pretty plant seems to take delight In viewing
in the water

like

a pretentious

woman enamoured

itself

of her

own charms.
Pride, Amaryllis.

Gardeners

call this beautiful

plant proud, because

refuses to flower under careful culture.

plants

is

it

often

The name of

these

derived from a Greek verb signifying to shine.

Privation, Indian Plum, or Myrobolan,

The

fruit

has the color and look of a fine cherry, but

contains only an

insipid,

sickening juice.

refuse to eat them.

Profit, Cabbage,

Proliibltlon, Privet, or Prim,

See p. SI.

Even

the birds

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Promptness,

139

Stoch Gillyfiower.

Prosperity, Beech,
Gilbert
trees,

White

beech " the most lovely of

calls the

whether we consider

its

smooth rind or bark,

"They make spreading

well-furnished

and

trees,

glistering

Old Evelyn

says,
their

" Not that the color of the oak

beautiful of all
blaze."

is

is,

Miller

writes,

be compared to the rich

beyond question, the most

autumnal colors to an eye that loves a deep

In the olden times, beds, light and fragrant, were

made from beech

be

And

leaves.''

orange hue of the beech, which

glossy

and noble shades with

or graceful, pendulous boughs."

foliage,

all forest
its

leaves.

The

oil

from beech nuts

is

said to

but little inferior to olive oil.

Prudence,

Service Tree.

The lemon
was

laid

Lemon. See

p. 77.

tree is proverbial for its fertility.

In 18 1^, a wager

between a gentleman of Massa and the Marchess

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

from Massa, would produce fourteen thousand lemons.

exceeded that number.

Pure and deep

Pmre

love, Carnation.

Seep.

19.

love, Bed Pmk.

Pnrlty, Star of BaiMiem,.

White Viola,

White LUy.

See p.

53.

It

DICTIONARY OF THE

140

Barlty, Man^ahe.
Nor

<

all

" Not poppy, nor mandragors,

the drowsy sirnps of the world

Shall ever medicine thee to that eWeet sleep

Which thou ow'dst yesterday,"
Shi^espeare.

The

ancients attributed great virtues to the mandragoia

but as they have

are ignorant to

by a gross

us no exact description of the plant, we

left

what

artifice,

species they gave the name.

Charlatans,

sometimes make several roots assume the

shape of a man, and

tell

the credulous that they are true

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

They

are fabled to utter cries

who

uproots them

this

root, they

pulled

is

say

when

pulled up, and the person

supposed to die soon

it

up by means of a

after.

To procure

should be carefully uncovered, and

string attached to a dog, which then

bears the penalty of the impious deed.

Beason,

Ooat's Jtue.

This plant
lects.

is

thought useful in cases of disordered

intel-

LANQUA6B OF FLOWERS.

141

Beconclliatlon, Bazel.
" Te swains,

now hasten to the hazel bank,

Where down yon dale the wildly winding brook

from steep to steep. In close array.

Fit for the thickets and the tangling shrub,
Falls hoarse

Ye virgins, come. For you their latest song

The woodlands raise; the clustering nuts for yon
The lover finds amid the secret shade.
And where they burnish on the topmost bough
"With active vigor crushes down the tree.
Or shakes them ripe from the resigning busk."

Tlumison.

The hazel was said to have been imported into

Fontus

changed

was

it

hence the

Roman name, nux

later to nvjx avellana,

The

cultivated.

Italy

from

pontica, which

was

from a Neapolitan

city

where

not a distinct species, but

filbert is

a mere variety of hazel.

Gower

tells us,

Was
That

And

" PhilUs
shape into a nutte-tree.
all

men

it

might

see;

after PhilUs, Philberd

This tree was cleped,"

But Rhind says

filbert is

a corruption of fuU-htard, a word

applied to designate the large, fringed husk.

of the hazel

Of

it

poles,

are

is

very

made hoops

flexible, it is

as

it

wood

In Italy the chips are used to clear

Withering informs us that in some places the

twigs take the place of yeast.

artists,

the

for barrels, hurdles, fishing-rods, crates,

and walking-sticks.

turbid wine.

As

applied to various uses.

draws

freely,

Hazel charcoal

and rubs out

easily.

is

prized by

The caduceus

of Mercury was supposed to be a hazel wand, given

him by

Apollo.

Begret beyond the tomb, A^lMdel.

The ancients planted

this flower beside

tombs, and believed

DICTIONARY OF THE

142

Acheron the

that beyond

spirits

walked

a vast

in

field

of

asphodel, drinking the water of Lethe.

Remembrance,

Rosemary.

" There's rosemary that's for remembrance; pray you,

love, 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."

Shaktpewre.

Kosemary
It

is

used at christenings, weddings, and funerals.

blossoms about Christmas, and our ancestors used to

up with a branch of rosemary the

Herrick, in allusion to

its different uses,

" Grows for two ends

Be

it

for

my

it

bridal, or

stir

spiced Christmas tankard.

says that

matters not at

my

it

all

burial."

This aromatic plant has had a merited reputation, from the

remedy

most ancient

times, as a

disorders.

forms the principal ingredient

Eau

It

in headaches

and nervous

in the celebrated

de la Seine de Hongrie, or Hungary Water.

Henry Kirke White wrote,

TO THE HERB ROSEMARY.

" Sweet-scented flower

who 'rt wont

On January's front severe,
And o'er the wintry desert drear
!

to

bloom

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
weave

a melancholy song;
sweet the strain shall be and long,
The melody of death.
I'll

And

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

143

flower, who lov'st to dwell

pale corse in lonely tomb.
throw'st across the desert gloom

Come, funeral

With the

And

sweet decaying smell,

my lips, and lie with
Beneath the lowly alder tree;

Come, press

And we will
And not a

me

sleep a pleasant sleep,

care shall dare intrude

To break the marble solitude,

So peaceful and so deep,"

Bemorge,

Raspberry.

BendezTous,

Pimpernel.

Its punctuality in

for

opening and closing makes

it

fit

emblem

an appointment.

Bepose, Suckbean,

See p, 21,

Beserve, Maple.

The maple has been made the emblem of

its

flowers are slow to open,

and very long

reserve, because
in falling.

Besistance, Tremella Nostoc, or Nostoc Commwne.

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

emanation from the

philosopher's stone

Betlrement,

stars,

and used

it

it

an

in searching after the

and the universal panacea.

Harebell.

The Lady of the Lake

" This

little

-May

well

says, as she plucks a harebell,

flower, that loves the lea,

my

simple emblem be;

It drinks heaven's

dew

as blithe as rose

That in the king's own garden grows;

And when

Allan, a bard

He

ne'er

place
is

it

in

my

hair,

bound to swear

saw coronet so

fair,"

DICTIONARY OF TBM

144

" Hare ye ever beard, in the twilight dim,

low, soft Btrain,

That ye fancied a distant vesper hymn.

Borne o'er the plain
By the zephyrs that rise on perfumed wlngf,
When the sun's last glances are glimmering?
*

The

source of that whispering strain

I'll tell;

For I've listened oft

To the music faint of the blue hareb^.
In the gloaming soft;
'Tis the gay fairy folk the peal who ring

At eventime

And

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.

Betnm

of bapplnegg, Lily of the

See p.

Valley.

30,

Reverie, Osmwnda.

No

one can form an adequate idea of the beauty of the

osmunda

regalis, according to Curtis,

who

has not seen this

fern growing in the southern part of England, where, sheltered

by

grows to the height of

alders, it

five feet,

bearing at the

extremities a mass of fructification so conspicuous as to have

caused

it

to be

commonly known

are highly extolled

by ancient

translator of Dodonceus, "

in the second.

against

squattes

is

as flowering fern.

authors.

hoate in the

first

degree, and dry

The harte of the root of osmunde

or bruises, heavie or greeyous

whatever hurt or dislocation soever

Bloltea, Corn.

Bongbnegs,

Its virtues

" Osmonde," says the

Scratchweed,

it

be."

is

falles,

good
and

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
Anptnre, Greek

The name

Valerian, or

145

PoUmcmy.

from Polemos, which means war, because, as

is

Pliny assures us, several kings disputed for the honor of

having discovered

it.

Sadness, Tew. See

p. 88.

Sensibility, Verbena.

The

original of all the

numerous verbenas now

was the verbena melindres, or

South America to England.

and beautiful
ill

spare

tints,

common

scarlet,

cultivated

carried

from

These flowers are of such varied

and so easy of

cultivation, that

we could

them from the flower bed or window.

Sensltlvenegg, Sensitive Plant, or Mimosa.

Serenade, Dew Plwni.

The resemblance

to

dew-drops of the

vesicles in the leaves of this plant

flection

of ideas with evening music.

Slgblng, Aspen.

13

little

transparent

probably caused the con-

DICTJONART OF TBE

146
Silence, White Base,

See p. 43.

SUIlness, Scarlet Geramium,

See p. 70,

Simplicity, Wild Single Bote.

Sincerity, Fern,

Thomas
up the

Miller

forest,

"

says,

where

mighty oaks have been

to its native

The very name of the

still

it

felled

it

it

spreads, true

still

our oldest fairy legends, and our simple

ancestors believed that they

and carry

there

fern calls

though ages ago the

the hardy image of deep-rooted sincerity.

soil,

It is associated with

seed,

lives on,

had but

to find the

true fern

about with them, to become invisible."

SlUll, Spider Orchis.

This flower resembles the insect into which Arachne was

transformed by Minerva, and which, under

has lost nothing of her

its

hideous form,

skill.

Sleep, White Poppy.

The palace of Somnus was a cave near the Cimmerians.

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

watched over his couch, a vase in one hand

anJt

The poets have drawn many

fini

poppies in the other.

similes

&om
"

this flower, as for instance,

Ab Ml-blown poppieB, overcharged with rain,

Decline the head, and, drooping, kiss the plain.
So BiukB the youth."
Pope's Bomer,
" But pleasures are

You

like

poppies spread ;
bloom is shed,"

seize the flower, its

Bv/rm,

Solitude, Heath.

See p. 31.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

147

Sorcery, Enchanted NigMshade,

Sourness, Barberry,
Stoicigm, Box,

Btren^b, Fmnel,

The

mixed

gladiators

strength;

and

after the

it

with

their

food to give

games of the arena, the

them

victor

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
Jjost vision to restore,"

Superior merit. Moss

Snrety,

See p. 44.

Cistus.

Aristotle

hold

Hose.

assures us that this

in their

it

hands from

plant preserves those

spirits

who

and phantoms.

Suspicion, Mushroom,

Some
them

kinds of mushrooms are edible, and others, resembling

very poisonous.

closely, are

Sfreet disposition, Lavatera,

The

lavatera

mallow.

It

is

is

an extremely delicate and lovely garden

called

after

the

celebrated

Lavater.

Sweet memories.
Sympatliy,

-Thrift.

Periwinkle.

See p.

20.

physiognomist

DICTIONARY OF TBE

148

Taste, Faehlwi.
This graceful plant

is

a native of Mexico, and was named

from L. Fuchs, a German

botanist.

Tears, Elecampaiie, or Helenium.

It

was fabled to have sprung from the tears of Helen.

Temptation,

The quince
it

Quince.
is

was brought

found in a wild state in Austria.

into

Italy

Pliny says

from Cydon, in Crete j hence

botanical name, malus cydonia.

its

It is also described undet

the names of pyrus cydonia and cydonia vulgaris.

The

far-

famed apples of the Hesperides were most probably quinces-

The French
to

Du

call the quince tree coignassier, because, according

Hamel, the unpleasant odor of the

fruit

caused

it

to be

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

In

New

England, the smell

pleasant than otherwise.

lade called cotignac

is

is

generally considered rather

In the south of France, the marmaprepared from this

fruit.

The word

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.
marmalade
quince,

said to

is

marmdo.

149

come from the Portuguese name of the

The seeds are used

for jelly, bandoline,

and

mucilage, though these last preparations do not keep long.

Quince pie was anciently esteemed a

and

" They

Tbe

nurse

Juliet, the

Lady

tells

call for dates

delicacy.

In

Komeo

Capulet,

and qiunces in the pastry."

Graces, HuTidred-Leaved Base,

When

the Graces attend the Muses, they wear wreaths of

this rose.

Tbonght,

Pansy.

"And

there

pansies; that's for thoughts."

is

Shakspeare,

" Lilies

for a bridal bed,

Koscs for a matron's head,

Violets for a maiden dead;
Fansies let

There

is

no end of

my

fanciful

flowers be."

names

for this flower, such as,

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

mother.

among

the Germans,

Shakspeare's famous compliment to

beth gives us

its origin':

little step-,

Queen

" That very time

I saw (but thou conldet not),

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 roia 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;

Flying'

And

the imperial votaress passed on.

In maiden meditation, fancy free.

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

13*

Eliza-

DICTIONARY OF TBE

150
Time, White

Poplar.

This was made the emblem of time, because

leaves,

its

dark on one side and bright on the other, represent day

and

night.

Timidity, Four

o'Cloch, or

Marvel of Pern.

See p,

69.

Tranquillity, Gold Basket,

This plant has been supposed to have the power of curing

madness.

Treachery,

Whortleberry, or BucMeberry.

CEnomaiis, father of the

Hippodamia, had for a groom

fair

Proud of

Myrtilus, the son of Mercury.

required

all

Monkshood, or Aconite.

this advantage,

he

the pretenders to his daughter's hand to compete

with him in a chariot race.

Pelops,

who wished

Hippodamia, promised Myrtilus a great reward

to obtain

he would

if

take out the pin which held his master's chariot wheels.

He

did so; thecar was upset, and CBnomaiis was killed; but, expiring,

he besought Pelops to avenge him, which he did by

throwing Myrtilus into the

Mercury changed him to

myrtle.

Its pretty,

Thrown back on the

sea.

this shrub,

shore,

which resembles a

little

bell-shaped flowers are succeeded by dark

berries of an agreeable flavor.

Professor Burnett says of aconite, " Its deleterious

were well known to the ancients, who regarded

most

efiects

as the

being unacquainted with those

and fabled be the invention of Hecate,

violent of all poisons,

of mineral origin,

who caused
is

it

it

to spring

it

to

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

LANaUAQE OF FLOWERS.

151

poison employed to execute the barbarous law in the island

of Ceos, which condemned to death
useful to the state."

It is

in gout, rheumatism, paralysis,

Trutb,

Bitteraweet, or

all

now used

who were no

as a powerful

and intermittent

longer

remedy

fevers.

Woody Nightshade.

TTncertatnty, MocTc Orange.

ITncIiaaigIng frlenidslUp, Arhor

Vitss.

TTnited bearts, Phlox,

Cgelessnegg, Queen of
Uselessness

is

the

Meadow, 3feadou> Sweet, or Spinea,

the universal signification of this pretty flower;

but Mr. Miller well suggests that

Beauty.

UtUlty,

Graas..

See p.

17.

it

be changed to Neglected

DICTIONARY OS THE

152

Talu-glory,

Byd/ra/ngea, or Bortenaia.

shrub from the East Indies, whose showy corymbs of

changeable flowers, and handsome green leaves, formerly made

it

a great favorite.

Valu

ts

beauty^ Trltbout merit,

Pretty,
fields.

but

We

scentless

flowers,

Cockle,

and Rose Campion,

growing in or near corn-

read in Job xxxL 40, " Let thistles grow instead

of wheat, and cockle instead of barley."

Variety, Double German Aster,
Vice, Tares,

See p.

61.

51.

Victory, Laurel. See

Voluptuouanegg,

See p.

p. 81.

Tuberose,

Mobs Rose, See pp.

61,

H,

LANOUAOE OF FLOWERS.

153

TTar, MlfoU, or Tasrrow.

Achilles,

heal the

whose name

this plant hears in hotany,

used

it

to

wounds of Telephus.

Warmth

o* leeling, Peppermint.

Proserpina surprised Menthe in the arms of Pluto, and,

justly irritated, changed her to a plant,

seems to contain the

chill

whose double savor

of fear and the warmth of love.

Weafemesa, Mush Plant,

'Wealth,

WIteat.

Welcome,

See p.

55.

Trailing Arlmtus, Majfiower, or

" Art thou not dearer in Spring's

Than the

fairest rose

of the

Ground Lawtl.

first

Summer

prime
time

.'

" A charm hast thou no forest flower can boast.

Thou little beaming herald of the Spring
How thrilled thy smile when on our rock-bound coast
The wearied pilgrims found thee blossoming

DICTIONARY OF TEE

154

blessing on thy graceful, perfumed bell,

That bloomed in roseate tints for years unknown,

And

peered above the withered leaves to tell

in the wilderness God's love is shown."

How

S. N. Jenki,

Wisdom,

WTvite Mulberry.

Witliout preteuaion,
There
finish

about

the rest of
irregular,

the leaf

Cimna'tnon Hose.

a peculiar look of incompleteness and want of

is

this rose.
its

Its color is

glowing

Yet

ragged growth.

is

sometimes very

very dull, compared with

sisterhood,
it is

prettj'.

and the bush has an

often quite fragrant, and

It should always be gath-

ered in bud.

IVords, tlxongli s^veet,

The great beauty

from exterminating

may

deceive, Ainerican Laurel,

of this shrub does not prevent farmers

it

on their lands, because

it is

so poisonous

to their sheep.

Tou

are perfect, Pine-Apple.

This fragrant

fruit

was introduced into Holland, from South

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

155

America, about the middle of the Beventeenth century; and

the Earl of Portland carried

Thomson

it

thus apostrophizes

to
it

England in 1690.

" Thou, the pride

Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er

The poets imaged ia the golden age,
Quick, let die strip thee of thy tufty coat,
Spread thy ambrosial Btores, and feast with Jove,"

Xou

are radiant

Tour beauty

cbamis. Garden

\ritli

Sanv/nculus,

is -vain, Hibiscus,

" I would be fair, but see the fair and proud.

Like the bright sun, oft setting in a cloud.*'
Wbtton.

" Only a sweet and virtuous

soul.

Like seasoned timber, never gives.

But, when the whole world turns to
Then cUefly lives."

coal,

Herbert,

" The body

To

And

fickle

subject

ia

rortuue's power.

to a million of mishaps

Is casual every hour;

And

death in time doth change

It to a clod of clay;

Whereas the mind, which

Suns never

is divine.

to decay."

Lord Vaux.

The African

hibiscus

is

a well-known annual in the flower

who have ever seen

garden, and those

some conservatory

in

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.

Xonr cKaimis are graven in

The

spindle tree

for spindles

and

makes

pencils.

my

heart,

pretty hedges.

Spyiidle Tree,

Its

wood

is

used

Sculptors and turners also prize

it.

LAlSfOVAQE OF FLOWEBS.

156

Ttmix looka freeze vne.

Ice

Tour presence

me,

re-vtves

The Hungary Water,

PUmt,
Boaema/ry.

bo refreshing a toilet article,

is

made

firom rosemary.

Toot

qualities surpass

your cbanus,

JUignonette,

See p.

S8.

ITontb, White IMae.

By

its pvirity

Tonthfnlness,

and short duration,

this flower typifies youth.

Crocus,

" The spendthrift crocne, hursting from the mould,

Naked and shivering,' with liis cup of gold."
Hohnes.

DICTIONARY

TEANSLATING A BOUQUET.

Acacia (Common),

...

v.

Locust.

Acacia (Hose),

Elegance.

Acanthus,

Art.

Adonis (Flos)

Painful recollections.

Agnus

Coldness

Castus,

Agrimony,

life

without love.

Gratitude.

Almond,

Giddiness; heedlessness.

14

(167)

158

DICTIONARY FOR

Aloe,

Bitterness.

Amaranth,

Immortality.

Amaryllis

Anemone

Pride.

(Garden),

Anemone (Windflower),
Angelica,

Illness.

Desertion.
Inspiration.

.-

Apple Blossom,

Preference.

Arbor

Unchanging

Vitae,

Ash,

Grandeur.

Aspen

Sighing.

friendshipi

Begret beyond the tomb.

Asphodel,
Aster (Double German),

Variety.

Aster (Large-flowered),

Afterthought.

Bachelor's Button,

v.

Bluebottle.

Balm Mint,

Pleasantry.

Balm of Gilead,

Healing.

Balsamine,

Impatience.

Barberry,

Petulance; sourness.
Hatred.

Basil,

Bay,

V.

Beech,

Bee

Orchis,

Laurel.
Prosperity.

v.

Orchis.

Bindweed,

Humility.

Birch,

Grace.

TBANSLATINi^ A BOUQUET.
Bittersweet Nightshade,

Black Bryony,

Black Mulberry,
Black Poplar,

Truth.

v.

Bryony.

v.

Mulberry.

......

Blackthorn, or Sloe,

.'

Poplar.
Difficulties.

Bladder Tree,

Frivolous

Bluebottle,

Delicacy.

Blue Passion Flower,

Blue Violet,

Passion Flower.

Violet.

Borage

Abruptness.

Box,

Stoicism.

Briers,

Envy.

Brompton Stock,

amusement

v.

Gillyflower.

Broom,

Neatness.

Bryony (Black),

Be my

Buckbean,

Calmness

Bugloss,

Falsehood.

Burdock,
Buttercup

support.
;

repose.

Importunity.
v.

Crowfoot.

Cabbage,

Profit.

Calla

Feminine

Camellia,

Gratitude.

delicacy.

Camomile,

Energy

Candytuft,

Indifierence.

in adversity-

15

DICTIOlTARY FOB

160
Canterbury Bell,

....

Cardinal Plower

Pure and deep

Carnation,

Celery Crowfoot,

Constancy.
Distinction.

v.

love.

Crowfoot.

Cherry,

A good education.

Chestnut,

Do me justice.

Chiccory,

Frugality.

Chickpea,

v.

Chickweed (Red),

Chrysanthemum,

....

v.

Vetch.

PimperneL

A heart left to desolation-

Cinnamon Tree,

Forgiveness of injuries.

Cinquefoil,

A beloved daughter.

Circe,

V.

Nightshade.

Cistus

Surety.

Clematis,

Artifice.

Cockle,

Vain

Coltsfoot,

Justice shall be done you.

Columbine,

Folly.

Coreopsis,

Always

cheerful.

Coriander,

Hidden

merit.

Com

is

beauty without merit.

Riches.

Corn Flower,

v.

Bluebottle.

Corn Poppy,

v.

Poppy.

Cornelian Cherry,
Cowslip,

....

Continuance
Native grace

duration.

Crocus,

Youthfulness.

Crowfoot,

Ingratitude.

Crown Imperial

Power.

Cypress,

Mourning.

pensiveness.

TBANSLATINO A BOUQUET.

161

rMy gratitude exceeds your cares;

I

Daisy (Garden),

novelty.
I share

Daisy (Single Field),

...

your

feelings.

I will think of

it.

Dandelion,

Oracle.

Datura,

Deceitful charms.

Dew

Serenade.

Plant,

Dittany of Crete

Birth.

Dodder,

Ebony Tree

Blackness.

Eglantine

Poetry.

Compassion.

Elder,

Elecampane,
Enchanter's Nightshade,

.-

Tears.

v.

Nightshade.

Always remembered.

Everlasting,

Perpetual pleasure.

Everlasting Pea,

14*

DICTIONABT FOB

162

Fennel,

Porce

Fern

Sincerity.
.

Filbert,

Btrength.

Hazel.

Fir,

Elevation.

Flax,

I feel your benefits.

Flos Adonis,

Painful recollections.

Forget

Forget-me-not

Four

o'clock,

w.

me

not.

Marvel of Peru.

Foxglove

Occupation.

Fraxinella,

Fire.

Fuchsia,

Taste;

fragility.

Intrinsic worth.

Geranium (Oak),

A melancholy

I prefer you.

Gentian,

Geranium (Rose),
Geranium

(Scarlet)

(Common),

Gillyflower

Gillyflower (Stock),

Goats' Hue,

mind.

Silliness.

Lasting beauty.
.

Promptness.

Beason.

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Gold Basket,

Tranquillity.

Grape Vine

Intemperance.

Grass,

Utility.

Greek Valerian,

Kupture.

Golden Rod

Encouragement.

Gorse, or Furze,

Anger.

Harebell,

Hetirement.

Hawthorn,

Hope.

Hazel

Heconciliation

Heart's-ease,

i>.

Pansy.

Heath,

Solitude.

Heliotrope

Intoxication

Henbane,

Blemish;

fault.

Beauty

vain.

Hibiscus,

Holly,

'

...'....

is

Foresight.

HoUyhodk,

Fecundity

Honesty,

Satin Flower.

ambition.

Bonds of love.

Honeysuckle,

Hop,

Injustice.

......
Horse-chestnut, .....
Hornbeam,

Houstonia,

Ornament.
Luxury.

e.

Innocence.

Vain-glory; heartlessness.

Benevolence.

Hyacinth,

Hydrangea,

I adore you.

163

DICTIONARY FOR

164

Your looks

Ice Plant,

Indian Plum,

Privation.

Innocence,

Innocence.

Iris

(Common

Iris

(German),

Garden),

freeze me.

Message.

Flame.

Ivy,

Piiendship.

Jasmine (White)

Amiability.

Jonquil

Desire.

Juniper,

Asylum;

aid.

Laburnum,

Pensive beauty.

Larch,

Boldness; audacity.

Larkspur,

Lightness

levity.

THANSLATINO A BOUQUET.
,-.
_
.
,
\
Laurel (American),

f
.

<
I

Words, though sweet, may

' deceive.

Laurel

Glory

Laurestine,

I die if neglected.

victory.

Layatera,

Sweet disposition.

Lavender,

Mistrust.

Lemon

Prudence.

Lettuce

Coolness*

'

Lilac (Purple),

First emotion of love.

Lilac (White)

Youth.

Lily (Water)

Eloquence.

Lily (White),

Majesty

Lily of the Valley

Return of happiness.

Linden, or Lime,

....

purity.

Conjugal love.

Liverwoi^t,

Confidence.

Locust

Platonic love.

Lucern,

Life.

Lupine,

Dejection.

Madder,

Calumny.

Magnolia,

Perseverance.

Maiden Hair
Manchineel Tree,

Discretion.

....

165

Falseness.

Mandrake

Itarity.

Maple

Reserve.

DICTIONARY

166
Marigold (Garden),

Marigold (Rainy),

Marigold and Cypress,

Marshmallow,

....
.

Despair.

Seneficence.
Timidity.

Welcome.

Mayflower,
Safiron,

....

Mezereon,

......

Mock

Your

qualities

past.

[charms.
surpass

War.

Milfoil,

Mistletoe,

My. best days are

Desire to please.

Mignonette,

Milkweed,

Grief; chagrin.

A storm.

Marvel of Peru

Meadow

FOB,

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

Orange,

Monkshood,

Hope

in misery.

I surmount everything.

Uncertainty.

......

Treachery.

Morning Glory,

Coquetry.

Moss,

Maternal love.

Good

Mugwort
Mulberry (Black),
Mulberry (White),

....
....

luck

Wisdom.

Mushroom,

Suspicion.

Musk

Weakness.

Plant,

happiness.

I shall not survive you.

Myrtle,

Love.

Narcissus,

Egotism.

Nasturtium,

Patriotism.

your

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Nettle,

Cruelty.

Nightshade (Enchanter's),

Sorcery.

Oak

Hospitality.

Oleander,

Beware.

Olive,

Peace.

Orange Flower,

Chastity.

Orchis (Bee)

Error.

Orchis (Spider),

.....

Osier,

Osmunda,

Skill.

Frankness.

.......

Oxalis,

V.

Reyerie.

Wood

sorreL

Pansy

Thought.

Parsley

Festivity.

Passion Flower

Devotion

Patience,

Peach Blossom,

Peony

faith.

Patience.
.-

am

your captive.

Ostentation.

167

DICTIONARY POR

168
Peppermint,

Warmth

Periwinkle,

Sweet memories.

Our

Phlox,

......

Pimpernel,

hearts are united.

Rendezvous

change.

Endurance.

Pine,

Pine-apple

You

Pink (Red),

Pure

Plane, or Flatane,

....

are perfect.
love.

Genius.

Keep your

Plum
Plum

of feeling.

......

(Indian),

Plum (Wild)
Polemony

Independence.

(Blue),

ti.

Pomegranate,

Greek Valerian.
Conceits

Pompion, or Pumpkin,
Poplar (Black),

promises.

Indian Plum.

....

Crossness

Courage.

coarseness.

Poplar (White)

Time.

Poppy (Com),

Consolation.

Poppy (White)

Sleep.

Potato,

Benevolence.

Modest worth.

Primrose,
Privet, or

Prim

Purple Scabious,

Prohibition.

....

Queen of the Meadow,

Quince

Mourning.

Uselessness.

Temptation.

TBAN8LATIN0 A BOUQUET.

Banunculus (Garden),

You

are radiant with charms.

Beeds,

Music.

Eest-harrow

Obstacle.

Rhododendron,

169

Agitation.

Hose Acacia,

v.

Acacia.

Bosebud,

Confession of ioye.

Hose (Cinnamon)

Without pretension.

Rose (Guelder),

....

Rose (Hundred-leaved),

v.
.

Rose Leaf,

Snowball.

The Graces.
I never trouble.

Rose (Monthly)

Beauty ever new.

Rose (Moss)

Superior merit; voluptuousness.

Rose (Musk)

Capripious beauty.

Rose (Red Damask),

Rose (White),
Eose (Wild

Love.
Silence.

Single),

Bose (Yellow)

Simplicity.
Infidelity.

{Bemembrance
revives me.

Bue

Disdain.

Rush,

Docility.

15

your presence

170

DICTIONARY FOR

Saffiron Crocusj

Do

Sage,

Esteem.

Saint John's Wort,

....

not abuse me.

Animosity.

Sardonia,

Irony.

Satin Flower,

Forgetfiilness.

Scratchweed,

Roughness.

Sensitive Plant,

Sensitiveness

Serpent Cactus,

Horror.

Service Tree, or Sorb,

Naivete.

Snapdragon,

Presumption.

Snowball,

Goodness.

Snowdrop,

Consolation

Speedwell,

Fidelity.

......

Star of Bethlehem,
Stock,

v.

....
V.

a friend in adver-

Orchis.

Queen of the Meadow.

Purity.
Gillyflower.

Perfect excellence.

Strawberry,

Succory

[sity.

v,

Chiccory.

Sumach

Splendid misery.

Sunflower,

False riches.

Sweet

Basil,

[heart.

Your charms are graven on my

Spindle Tree,
Spiraea,

modesty.

Prudence.

Silverweed,

Spider Orchis,

v.

Basil.

TRANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Sweet Brier,

Sweet Pea,

v.

......

Sweet Sultan,

Sweet William,

171

Eglantine.

Departure.

Happiness.

.....

Syringa,

Finesse.

Fraternal love.

Tare,

Vice.

Teasel

Misanthropy.

Thistle

Austerity.

Thorn Apple,

Disguise.

Thrift

Sympathy.

Thyme,

Activity.

Trailing Arbutus,

o.

Tremella,

Mayflower.
Kesistance.

Tuberose,

Voluptuousness.

Tulip,

Declaration of love.

Valerian (Common),
Valerian (Bed),

Accommodating
Facility.

disposition.

DICTIONARY FOS

172

Venus's Looking-glass,

Flattery.

Verbena

Sensibility.

Veronica

Speedwell.

v.

Enchantment.

Vervain,

Vetch,

I cling

Vine,

V.

to.

Violet (Blue),

Modesty.

Violet (White)

Purity

Virgin's

Bower

Wall Flower,

Water

Lily,

Weeping Willow,
Wheat,

White

v.

...

candor.

Clematis.

Fidelity in misfortune.

V.

Lily.

Melancholy.

Wealth.

V.

Lily.

White Mulberry,

V.

Mulberry.

White Poplar,

V.

Poplar.

White Poppy,

V.

Poppy.

V.

Rose.

V.

Violet.

Lily,

White Bose,
White

Violet,

Whortleberry,

Treachery.

Plum.

Wild Plum,

t).

Wild Rose,

V.

Rose.

V.

Osier.

Willow (Basket),
Willow (Common),

thee.

Grape Vine.

Forsaken.

TSANSLATING A BOUQUET.
Willow Herb,

Pretension.

Windflower,

Wood

v.

Anemone.
Joy.

Sorrel,

Wormwood,

Absence.

Yarrow,

Yew,

Milfoil.

Sadness.

Yoke Elm,

V.

Hornbeam.

Zinnia,

15*

moiam your

absence.

173

" I mast

flU

np

With

baleful

Kany

for

this osier cage

None but

" Flowers

of onrs

weeds and precious juiced flowers,

many

virtues excellent,

for some, and yet all dlS'erent'."

fresh in hue and

Implore the pausing

Dance in the

step,

many

in their class,

and with their dyes

soft breeze In a fidry

mass."
Syron.

(174)

Ie introduce under this head

a few plants, which, although

they have not a meaning as-

signed them as yet in Flora's

vocabulary, are

of mention
their

the allusions

made

to

beauty,

them by various

on

worthy

istill

account

of

useiiilness,

or

authors.
(176)

APPENOJX.

176

American,

False Co^vslip,

or

The name

signifies

twdve

Dodecatlieon media.

divinities,

and the flower

is

so

beautiful that a botanist might well fable that the whole circle

of the Grecian gods conspired to create

caltha paltistris,

is

more general name

also called the

is

it.

Another

plant, the

American cowslip, but

marsh marigold.

its

It is a brilliant yellow

flower growing in wet places, but quite unlike our elegant

dodecatheon, which blooms a

little later.

Apples ol Sodom. Solanum nodomeum.

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 qf purple egg-plant.

insect usually punctures the skin of the fruit, causing

outwardly

fair,

to gangrene and turn to dust within.

Diary of Henry Teonge, an English

fleet chaplain,

it,

An
while

In the

he writes

in

December, 167d, " This country (around the Dead Sea)

is

altogether unfruitfuU, being all over full of stones, which

looke just like burnt syndurs.

there
M'itt

grow small round

like them.

They

things,

are

And on some

low shrubbs

which are called apples, but no

somewhat

fayre

to look at; but

APPENDIX.
touch them, and they moulder

all

177

to black ashes, like soote,

boath for looks and smell."

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 hatefnlest disrelish writhed their jaws.
With soot and cinders tilled; so oft they fell
Into the same illusion."

Par, Loet, Booh X.

Ajnun, IVakeroblii,
macuUUwm.

Wild Tnmlp,

JadK-ln-the-Fnlptt.

This curious plant, found blooming in

places, bears spikes of scarlet berries

The name arum

is

an arrow or dart.
juice, very acrid,

The acrimony
heat,

is

come from

said to

The
which

root,
is

when

in wet, shady

in the

its leaves,

summer.

shaped like

fresh, contains a

milky

used in medicine as a stimulant.

dissipated

when the substance of

by drying and the

a saponaceous quality.

application of

the root becomes a bland farina-

ceous matter resembling arrow-root.

fiave

May

late

Arum

Powdered

It is also

it is

said to

used by the Parisians,

<mder the name of cypress powder, as a cosmetic for the

fkin.

APPENDIX.

178

Belladonna,
It is called

I>eadly IVlghtshade. Atropa

or

belladonna.'

Atropa, from Aliropos, the goddess of destiny, in

allusion to its fatal effects

and belladonna, because the

ladies of the Continent formerly

As a medicine

made use of

it

produced such strange and dreadful

soldiers, during their retreat,

from the Parthians.

treacherously mixed

its

to be the plant which

effects

upon the Roman

under the command of Antony,

Scotch historian relates that the Scots

juice in the bread

and drink with which

the conditions of a truce bound them to supply the Danes.

were so intoxicated by

it

They

that the Scots killed the greater part

of them before they had recovered consciousness.

ville

fair

as a cosmetic.

has great repute among the homoeopathic

it

Sauvages supposes

practitioners.

it

Dr.

Wood-

quotes the passage in Shakspeare where Banquo says,

*'

That

Blackberry.

Or have we eaten of the insane root

talces

the reason prisoner '

Siibua triviaUs or vUlostu.

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

the blackberry
of this fruit,

is

thought to be intended.

and the virtues of the

known to every good housekeeper

familiar,

we cannot

delicious flavor

made from

it,

are

and the plant, if attentively

examined, will be found very beautiful.

be

The

cordial

Although they may

resist giving here the lines of Elliot.

APPENDIX,

179

TO THE BRAMBLE FLOWER.

" Thy fruit full well the schoolboy knows,
Wild bramble of the brake
So put thou forth thy small white rose;
I love

It

for his sake.

Though woodbines
O'er

Thou
Thy
For

flaunt and roses glow

the fragrant bowers.
need'st not be ashamed to show
all

satin-threaded flowers;

dull the eye, the heart is dull,

That cannot feel how fair.

Amid all beauty beautiful,
Thy tender blosRoms are

How delicate thy gauzy frill!

How rich thy branchy stem
How soft thy voice when woods
And thou

When

sing'st

hymns

to

are

still,

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 ! back dost bring.
In all 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,"
silent

And

When

Titania gives

commands them

Bottom

in charge to the fairies,

si

to

" Feed him with apricocks and dewberries."

Dewberries are the

fruit

of one species of the bramble

the rvbtts ccesius, according to Brande.

180

APPENDIX.

BncUthom.
The

Jthamnus caiharticus.

juice from the berries of the buckthorn,

alum and gum

arable,

makes the sap green used

in

mixed with
water colors.

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

The bark produce^ a

taste.

fine

yellow dye.

Calceolaria.

There seems to be an
they are favorite
Chili

and Peru.

infinite variety

florists' flowers.

The name comes from

owing to the shape of the

Canarjr-blrd Flo-vrer.

of calceolarias, and

They are

all

natives of

ealceolus, a slipper,

flowers.

Tropeeolvm peregrimim.

This graceful climber, known to the Spaniards as "pajaritos

amarillos," also comes from Peru.

around

and, twisted

slender

It

blossoms profusely,

columns, makes a charming

effect.

Carrot. Daucus carota.

The
it

ancient Greeks seem to have cultivated the carrot, anU

has appeared on the tables of

since

their

James

I.,

time.

tells

Parkinson,

all

the civilized nations ever

who was

botanist

to

King

us that in his time ladies wore the delicate,

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

of plumes.

APPENDIX.
Catalpa.

181

Catdtpa cordifolia*

The name

catalpa

of Indian origin.

is

The showy

flowers

of this elegant tree grow similarly to those of the horse-

We

chestnut.

have but one species indigenous to America.

Celandine, or STrallOTT "Wort.

Chelidonium majus.

This acrid plant was. long considered a most effectual remedy

for jaundice.

It

was

also

recommended

but an eminent author says, "

We

have

for other diseases;

little

doubt but that

the virtues of celandine have been greatly exaggerated; in

we should expect

certain cases, however,

remedy, for

it

to find

it

evidently possesses active powers."

commonly along

the roadside, and wherever the stem

a useful

grows

It
is

broken

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

upon.

all it

The celandine which Wordsworth has compli-

mented with a poem, was not

Centaury. Chironea

cenfaurca, or Eryihrxa centaurium,

" Wormwood and centaury

To

but a flower, known

this plant,

{Ranunculus ficaria.)

as the lesser cdandine.

their bitter juice

aid digestion's sickly

powers

refine."

Dodstey.

The centaur Chiron

foot with this plant
bitter that it

earth.

is

wound

in his

It is inodorous,

but so

said to have cured a

hence

its

name.

was called by the ancients /eZ

It has antiseptic properties,

terras,

or gall of the

and before the discovery

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

Christmas Rose,

Blacb Sellebore.

or

native of Austria

Britain in 1596,

and

in mild weather,

it

16

is

and

Italy.

It

HeUebortis niger.

was introduced into

called the Christmas Rose, because,

usually blooms at the end of the year.

APPENDIX.

182
The blossom

is

very handsome, having five large white petals,

tipped with rose.

The root was used

remedy

for madness.

Coffee.

Coffea ardbica.

The

coffee berries,

on an evergreen,

or twenty feet high, which

The use of

The

first

in 1672

coffee as a drink is said to

have begun

It

was used

in Marseilles in 1644'

but he met with so

removed to London, where

introduced in 1652.
Palgrave,

its

it

little

perfection

Armenian

encouragement

had. been previously

According to a recent

we can never know

the nectar in

a native

and sweet-

coffee-house in Paris was established by an

named Pascal,
that he

is

flowers are white

in Constantinople in 1554.

The

which we roast to make a beverage, grow

fifteen

of Arabia and Ethiopia.

scented.

by' the ancients as

traveller,

Mr,

the real excellence of coffee

till

we go

to Arabia.

Cuckoo Bud.
Simply the old name for the buttercup.

Dentzla.
Early in spring every greenhouse displays this pretty plant
covered with a profusion of white blossoms.

CHna and

It is

a native of

Japan, and was called by Thunberg after John

Deutz, a senator of Amsterdam,

for exploring those countiies.

who

furnished him with means

APPENDIX.

Bnpliragy, or Eyebrlgbt, Euphrasia

Milton wrote

offlcinalis.

that,

" Michael from Adam's eyes the

Which

183

film

removed

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 formerly applied externally and taken internally, as a soyereign

As

it is

remedy

clearly impossible that

different diseases, arising

been made
result

for all affections of the eyes.

one thing could cure so many

from various causes, endeavors have

to ascertain the real virtues of the plant.

seems to be, that

it

is

The

valuable in cases of weakness

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

Fennel Floorer, Liove in a

9Iist,

liady in the Green. NigeOa

damascena.

The seeds of

this curious flower

(which gave

it

the

name of

nigella, from their blackness) are very pungent in the East,

and

184

APPENDIX,

are used instead

We

of pepper.

probably the cumin, to which

are told that they were

oiu:

Lord alluded when

re-

proving the Pharisees.

Fuclisia-floivered Gooseberry.

Among
is this

feet,

Jtibes gpeciosum.

the wonderful vegetable productions of California

magnificent gooseberry.

and

is

It

grows to the height of

sometimes covered for

Ecarlet flowers,

weeks with

six

five

brilliant

whose long, drooping stamens have caused

it

to receive the appellation oi fuchsia-flowered.

Giant Fennel. Ferula

Prometheus

is

fabled to have brought

stalk of this plant.

and contain a
for tinder.

villoia.

It? stems

fire

from heaven

grow ten or twelve

in a

feet high,

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

A Persian species of ferula produces the assqfcetida

of medicine.

Ground
This

]Vut, or Ilartli ]Vut.

is

chestnut.

Bunium

bulbocastanujn.

an umbelliferous plant, with a root resembling a

Another kind of ground nut, the apios

or glycine apios,

is

The Indians made

common

in America,

great use of

them

and very

ttiberosa,

nutritious.

in their simple diet.

APPENDIX.

MemlodE. Conium maculatum

Both the
probably

We

and Otcuta virosa.

common hemlock and

known

to the

are ignorant which kind

the water

and

ancients,

hemlock were

both are poisonous.

was given to

Greek and Arabian physicians were

hemlock juice externally

185

The

Socrates.

in the habit of using the

for swellings

and pains

in the joints.

Baron Stoerck, among the moderns, has recommended

it

for

cancers, &c.

Horseradlgb,
Horseradish

CochUaria armorada.
is

most excellent and wholesome condiment.

It is a strong stimulant,

and has sometimes been used

of mustard, in poultices.

remedy

for hoarseness

A sirup

of this root

and sore throat.

that an infusion of horseradish in milk

is

in place

an excellent

Dr. Withering says,

is

one of the safest

and best cosmetics.

Jemgalem Artichoke.
The word Jerusalem

Beliamthus tvberosus.
is,

in this case,

a curious corruption

of the Italian girasole, turning to the sun.

16*

It

is

a kind

APPENDIX,

186

of sunflower, and was very

The

common

in old-fashioned gardens.

roots, about the size of a potato, are thought to resemble

artichokes in their taste.

Judas' Tree,

The

or

Red-bud.

brilliant clusters of

tree in the spring,

it

and

Cercia canadensis.

crimson flowers which adorn this

large heart-shaped leaves, render

its

A botanist

a very attractive object.

observed hundreds of the

under these trees while in flower."

it

the appellation of Judas' tree.

Judas hung himself upon

I.adleg' Slipper.

great

many

us, " I have often

bees lying dead

Its fatality to insects gives

There

is

also a tradition that

it.

CypHpedimn.
varieties of this curious

are found wild in America.

some

tells

common humble

Some

and beautiful orchid

are yellow,

some

white,

purple.

Xiady'a

Smock.

Cardamine.

Frequent allusions to
English poets.

this

flower are found in the early

The name was given from the pure whiteness

of the flowers, in the variety most common.

It

was

also, for

the same reason, dedicated to the Virgin Marj-, and called

Our Lady's Plower.

Another name

is

Cuckoo-flower.

APPENDIX.

187

X<yohnl.

This family of plants

flowers

comprises

as the scarlet lychnis, or

The cottony

robin, &c.

leaves of

several with

London
some

handsome
ragged

pride, the

have been

varieties

used as substitutes for lamp-wicks.

Maijoram. Origanvm

vulgare and mt^oranum.

The common wild marjoram

is

found

native

here; the

sweet marjoram, used in cookery, came originally from FortugaL

This herb

is

supposed to be the amaracus of the ancient poets.

Thus Virgil:
~~

*( ubi mollis amaracus ilium

Floribus et duld aspirans complectitur umbra,"

..^Ineid,

And

Book

2., I,

698.

Catullus:

" Cinge tempora floribns

Suave olentis amaraci."

Moniitaiu Ash. Pyrus aucuparia, and

The Scotch
places

the

The elegant

call

this

brilliant

peasantry use

its

Sorhtta atnericaita.

tree

the rowan.

clusters of orange-red berries

white flowers,

In some

branches to avert witchcraft.

which succeed the

and the handsome pinnate leaves, render

one of the greatest

ornaments to a

worth, in the Excursion, speaks of

shrul^tjgry,

it

Words-

APPENDIX.

188

" the mountain asb

eye can overlook, when 'mid a grore
Of yet unfaded trees she lifts her head,
Decked with autumnal berries that outshine
Spring's richest blossoms; and ye may have marked.

No

By

a brook-side or solitary tarn,

How

she her station doth adorn;

the

pool

Glows at iier feet, and all the gloomy rocks

Are brightened round her."

mullein.

Verbascum fhapsus.

Every reader

downy

probably familiar with the. white,

is

and

leaves,

slightly fragrant yellow flowers,

together

on a

mullein.

It is emollient

is

made of

large,

clumsy

which

distinguish

astringent,

the

and great use

the leaves in the country for fomentations and

Gerarde

cataplasms.

calls it

thought to be of great use in

One

stalk,

and gently

soft,

crowded

" Cow's Lungwort," as

piJmonary complaints of

it

was

cattle.

species of mullein is said to he a strong anodyne, and

to intoxicate

fish.

Onion, Allium
There
esteemed
says,

is

cepa.

evidence to show that the onion was

in

Egypt two thousand years before

Israelites, after

divide

Bhind

" Hasselquist, in a panegyric on the exquisite flavor

of the Egyptian onion, remarks that

have

known and

Christ.

regretted

them

it

is

no wonder the

they had quitted their place of bondage, should

the

loss

of

into four parts,

this

delicacy.

The Egyptians

and eat them roasted together

APPENDIX.
with pieces of meat;
delicious

viands

preparation they

frhich

that they devoutly wish

of

The

Paradise."

189

onions

consider

may form one

it

of

warm

so

of the

countries

are

immeasurably superior to those of colder climes, being larger

and

milder

qualities,

in

flavor.

This

vegetable

and many a mother can

possesses

testify to

healing

the efficacy of

onion sirup.

Petunia,

The

different varieties of this

in the house or garden,

They

come

showy

flower, so ornamental

to us from

South America.

are annuals out of doors, but perennial under shelter.

Purple

liOosestrlfe.

I/ythrwm salicaria.

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

plant with long, loose spikes of very deUcate
flowers.

The color

has obtained for

is

it

is

in

tall

brilliant

purple, tinged with red, which

some places the name

the purple loosestrife.

fine perennial

fine

and

otfireiveed.

Transplanted to the garden,

border flower.

This
it

is

APPENDIX,

190

Bice.

Oryza

saliva.

Rice was cultivated from the earliest times in Asia and

Africa.

Its introduction into

America

is

of very

modem

date.

According to one account, Mr. Ashby, an English merchant,

at

the close of the seventeenth century, sent a hundred weight

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

future harvests.

Another authority

says, "

all

the

A brigantine from

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

little

the

seed lice

left,

which the captain gave to a gentleman of

name of Woodward.

From

part of this he

crop, but was ignorant for some years

how

had a very good

to clean

it.

It

was

soon dispersed over the province, and by frequent experiments

and observations, they found out ways of producing and manufacturing

it

to so great perfection, that

any other in value.

The

it is

thought to exceed

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. Crithmuin marilimum, and Sdlicomia

The

first

of these

is

the English samphire

Both grow on the

American.

The sdlicomia

pickles.

is

also

the second the

sea-coast, -and

its

'

used as

ashes are used in

The word samphire

the manufacture of soda.

are

found in great quantities on

the coast of the Mediterranean, where

French Saint Pierre.

tion of the

heriacea.

On Dover

is

a corrup-

heights

Edgar

exclaims to Gloster,
" stand

And

dizzy

'tis

still.

How

fearful

to cast one's eyes so

low

The crows and choug^hs, that wiug^ the midway air,

Show scarce so gross as beetles. Half way down
Hangs one that gathers samphire dreadful trade

Methinks he seems no bigger than his head."

Sassafras.

Lavnm

sassafras.

This fragrant shrub or tree

became known

to the old world

on the discovery of Florida, and was sold at enormous prices

when

first

introduced into Europe, on account of the great

medicinal virtues attributed to

land before 1633.

A tincture

it.

It

was cultivated in Eng-

of the bark

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

in a combination with sarsapariUa.

is still
it is

in vogue for

generally used

APPENDIX.

192

Snakeroot, fleneca and Virginia. Polygala

senega, and

AHsMo-

chia serpentaria.

Very dangerous consequences have sometimes ensued from

confounding these two plants.

Dr. Tennent

called the

first

attention" of physicians to the fact that the Indians possessed

speciiic for the bite of the rattlesnake,

to be the Seneca snakeroot.

and dropsy.

The Virginia snakeroot

a remedy for the bites of serpents.

was

at one time thought to

diseases

but

its

root.

and

efficacy in various

modem

practice.

was given on account of

seal

There are many

found in the spring in shady woods.

of

varieties

The mucilaginous

it

roots

excellent poultice for tumors, bruises, &c.

says, "

Old Gerarde
while

considered

Convallaria bifoliaf racemosa, inultijlora, &c.

marks on the

make an

likewise

be of marvellous

The name of Solomon's

certain

is

It is strongly aromatic,

fame has decUned in

Solomon's Seal.

which was ascertained

It is also prescribed in pleurisy

it is

The root of Solomon's

fresh and greene,

and

seal,

applied, taketh

stamped,

away

in one

night, or

two at the most, any bruse, black or blew spots

gotten by

fals,

or

hasty husband's

Sugar-cane.

woman's wilfulness in stumbling upon

fists,

their

or such like."

Saccharum

officinarwm.

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

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

Bomans, though some have thought they found an

to

it

in Theophrastus.

Father Heimepin found

allusion

this prlcelpss

cane growing near the mouth of the Mississippi, and Ximenes

mentions that

it

grew wild near the Kio de

la Plata.

The

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

to

APPENDIX.

193

be superior to the native variety.

Before the Indies were

discovered, sugar was

made

in considerable quantities in the

islands of Sicily, Crete, Rhodes,

and Cyprus, where

it

was

blossom

late

supposed to have been carried by the Saracens.

Sundefv. Drosera,

The word drosera means dewy.

in the

It is

summer, in moist ground.

'

found

in

In Crabbe's Borough,

Our busy

Rtreets and eylvan walks between

Fen, marshes, bog^, and heath, all intervene;
Here pits of crag, with spongy, plashy base,
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. Tanacetum

vulgare and crispwm.

The French anciently

called

this

plant by the

Afhanasie, which became by corruption tansy.

leaves are not destitute of beauty,

pleasant odor.

On

account of

and send

its

name of

The curled

forth a strong but

intense bitterness,

it

was

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

17

which the Jews were commanded to eat

AFPESDIX,

194
Tea.

Thea viridis and bohea.

Tea

is

shrub, belonging to the same

small evergreen

family as the camellia.

to foreigners,

Owing

we know

very

to the Chinese policy in regard

about the plant, or the

little

method of preparing the leaves

one

as

may

ascertain

by

reading various elaborate accounts, which are very far from

agreeing with one

another.

was

It

first

introduced

into

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

In view of the present enormous consumption of

price.
it

a curious question what people drank before

is

it

tea,

came

into use.

Tbom

App7e, Apple o{ Pern,

or

Jamestofm Weed.

Datura

stramonium.

Almost every one must know

this peculiar looking plant

as a violent narcotic poison.

Even

induce dizziness and stupor.

Yet, in skilful hands,

a most valuable medicine.

ently

knew

its

The

The

an extract of the leaves

root

is

said to

it is
it

proves

Greek physicians appar-

old

and in our time

properties;

epilepsy and mania.

the odor of

smoked

it

is

used in

for asthma, and

sometimes applied to bums and

is

Such dangerous remedies, however, should

inflamed tumors.

be given only by physicians.

Toad FIoz.

common

Antirrhinum

linaria.

flower in summer, with rather fine bluish leaves,

and yellow and orange

the snapdragon.

flowers, shaped like those of its brother,

Country people give

of butter-and-eggs.

Linneeus says

Like many comrnon

plants,

sion of the flowers

is

it

it

it

the descriptive name

was used

to poison

has healing virtues.

An

flies.

infa-

highly recommended for skin diseases,

APPENDIX.
and the leaves in dropsy.
in

195

Both leaves and

compounding ointments and

flowers are used

poultices.

Tobacco, Nicotiana tdbacum.

Tohacco was

imported into

Spain

ana Fortngal from

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

Nicot,

sixteenth century.

who was ambassador of France

at Lisbon, carried it to Catherine

de M^dicis, in 1560, as a

The generic name was

plant possessing wonderful virtues.

given in his honor ; and the English name, tobacco,

from Tobago
or, as

in

the

West

Indies,

one authority says, from a South American word for a

In

pipe.

spite

of the hundred or more volumes written

against its use, smoking, and,

still

is either

or Tobasco in Mexico,

practised,

fashion, except

regret to say, chewing, are

with a few old women.

Burnett says, "It

hebenon,'

we

though snuff-taking seems to have gone out of

is

supposed that the 'juice of cursed

by which, according to Sbakspeare, the king of

Denmark was

poisoned, was the essential oil of tobacco."

Hebenon undoubtedly meant

tinues,

"

called

'henbane of Peru.'

it

with which

lienbane,

and as our author con-

appears fi-om Gerarde that tobacco was commonly

we

No

preparation of hyoscyamus

are acquainted, would produce death

application to the ear;

whereas the essential

might without doubt occasion a &tal

Trumpet Flower.

oil

by an

of tobacco

result."

Bignonia radicans.

The elegant cUmbing plant which produces

this

brilliant

flower is the pride of southern gardens, though rarely seen

at the north.

Bignon.

The name Bignonia

is

in honor of the

Abb6

196

APFMNDIX.

Tulip Tree,

lAriodendron tulipifera.

known

magnificent flowering tree,

and canon-wood, which

America

surpasses

in height as well as beauty.

also

almost

The

as white-wood

every other

in

flowers are fragrant,

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

The wood

The name liriodendron

signifies

is

valuable for

lily tree.

many

purposes.

HE

air

smoke

of

and

cities,

poisonous

tions, is fatal to

and

all

true

teavy with

many

Cowley prayed,
" Ah,

yet, ere I

life.

descend to the grave.

!

I a small house and large garden have "

17*

poets have sung

the charms of country

May

exhalaflowers

(197)

198

And

APPENDIX.
longingly cried,
"

woods

fields,

The happy

when, when

shall I

tenant of your shade

be made

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 me,

Give

me

sings,

indulgent Fate,
yet, before I die,

sweet but absolute retreat

'Mong paths so

and

lost

may

That the world

trees so high.

ne'er invade.

Through such windings and such shade.

My

unshaken

liberty.

Fruits indeed would

AH

that did in

Heaven bestow,

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;

Cherries, with the

All within

my

downy

easy reach

peach,
;

While creeping near the humble ground

Should the strawberry be found.
Springing wheresoe'cr I strayed

Through those windings and

that shade."

APPENDIX,

We

find

"

Pope

Happy

199

writing, at a very early age,

the

man, whose wish and

care

few paternal acres bonnd,

Content to breathe his native air

*

In

his

own ground.

'Whose herds with milk, whose

Whose
Whose

flocks supply

trees in

summer

yield

In winter

Blessed

fields

him with

him shade.

fire.

who can unconcernedly

Hours, days, and years,

with bread,

attire

find

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

"

On

as follows

beds of daisies idly

The willow waving

Now

o'er

laid,

my

head.

morning on the bending stem

Hangs

the round and glittering gem.

Lulled by the lapse of yonder spring.

Of

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

lu 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

cornfield,

While beauty,

health,

blooming mead;

and innocence

Transport the eye, the soul, the sense.

Nymphs

of the groves, in green arrayed,

Conduct

me

Deep

in the

Where haunts

Where

your thickest shade.

to

bosom of the

vale,

the lonesome nightingale;

Contemplation, maid divine.

Leans against some aged

Wrapped

in

Her eyes

fixed steadfast

pine,

solemn thought profound.

on the ground.

0, Virtue's nurse, retired queen,

By

saints alone

and hermits

Beyond vain mortal wishes

Teach

me

St.

seen.

wise.

James's to despise

For what are crowded courts but schools

For

fops,

Where
Meet

or hospitals for fools

slaves

to adore

and madmen, yonng and

some

calf of gold 1"

In a similar strain Dyer says,

" Be

full,

ye courts, be great

Search for Peace with

Open wide the

all

who

your

lofty door.

Seek her on the marble

floor

will

sltill;

old,

APPENDIX.
In Tain you search

she

201
not there

is

In vain you search the domes of Care

Grass and flowers Quiet treads,

On

the meads and mountain-heads

Along with Pleasure,

Ever by each

close allied.

other's side."

But perhaps one of the best things of

is

Town and Country

Cunningham's

gins,

this

Child.

He

*'

Child of the country

free as air

Art thon, and as the sunshine

Bom

Lies odorous

Fed 'mid
Nursed

fair;

where the dew

like the lily,

when

the day

is

new

the May-flowers, like the hee

to sweet

music on the knee

Lulled on the breast to that glad tune

Which winds make 'mong

I sing of thee

Of such a

fair

'tis

the

woods of June

sweet to sing

and gladsome

thing.

Child of the town, for thee I sigh

A
A
A

gilded roof's thy golden sky,

carpet

is

narrow

thy daisied sod,

street

thy boundless Toad.

Through smoke, and not through

And blooming

trees,

I sing of thee in sadness

Else

is

trellised vines

thy sunbeam shines

;

where

wreck wrought in aught so

fair

kind
be-

APPENDIX.

202

And

ends,
" Fly from the town, sweet child
Is happiness,

There

is

and

strength,

a lesson in each

story in each stream

On

for health

and wealth.

flower,

and bower;

every herb on which yon tread

Are written words, which,

rightly read.

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 to

Btop

Browne has
before

it

would be

for, as Sir

said,

gardeners,

Thomas

" Gardens were

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.
not so hackneyed as

to three descriptions,

The

" All Buddenly the

In

lieu

That

hill his

snow devours,

all

about perfumed

all
it

sense.

the world, or please the appetence.

was poured out

in lavish affluence.

The garden

like

That lay as

if

And

to the

open skies her eyes did shut

The

azure

a lady

fair

fields

set with the flowers of

hilly

On which

Ught

and the round sparks of dew

That hung upon their azure

Upon a

cut,

of heaven were sembled right

flowers-de-Iuce,

Like twinkling

was

she slumbered ra delight.

In a large round,

The

threw.

spirits flew.

For whatsoever might aggrate the

Here

others.

whereof a goodly garden grew,

As if the snow had melted into flowers.

Which their sweet breath in subtle vapors

In

many

from Giles Fletcher.

first is

leaves, did

stars, that sparkle in

bank her head she

shew

the evening bine.

cast.

the bower of Vain-delight was bunt.

"White and red roses for her face were placed.

And for her tresses marigolds were spilt;

Them broadly she displayed, like flaming
Till in the

Then up again her yellow

And

gilt.

ocean the glad day were drowned:

with green

fillets

locks she wound.

in their pretty cauls

them bound.'

APPENDIX.

The next
"

from Langhorne

is

bower he framed

What

(for

205

ho could frame

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

In scenes where

"Waved

Yet was

fair

the witcheries of love.

all

wrouglit in simple

it

Nor Indian mines nor

Had

wove

Armida's wand

show

Orient shores

lent their glories here to glow,

Or yielded here

their shining stores.

All round a poplar's trembling arms

The wild

rose

The woodbine

wound her damask

That loves to weave the

The ash
In

The

all

that courts the mountain air.

wilding's blossom blushing

thyme

The
The

lover's bower.

her painted blooms arrayed,

Combined

"With

to

fair.

form the flowery shade.

that loves the

brown

hill's breast,

cowslip's sweet reclining head,

violet of

"Was

flower

lent her spicy chaims.

all

sky-woven

vest,

the fairy ground bespread."

18

APPENDIX.

206

Andrew

exquisite

Marvell's

unabridged,

though

we think

one contains a heresy against

comes

G-arden
the

last

stanza but

truth.

THE GARDEN.
"

How
And

men

vainly

To win

themselves amaze

the palm, the oak, or bays.

their incessant labors see

Crowned from some

Whose

short

all

single herb or tree.

and narrow-verged shade

Does prudently

While

their toils npbraid!

the flowers

To weave

and

trees

do

close.

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,

Only among the plants

Society

is all

will

grow

but rude

To

this delicious solitude.

No

white nor red was ever seen

So amorous as

Fond
Cut

How

this lovely green.

lovers, cruel as their flame,

in tliese trees their mistress'

Little, alas

they

know

far these beauties

name;

or heed

her exceed!

where'er your barks I wound,

Fair trees

No name

shall but

last,

your own be found.

APPENDIX.

When we

have run our passion's heat,

Love hither malces

The

who

gods,

Still in

207

his best retreat.

mortal beauty chase.

a tree did end their race.

Apollo hunted Daphne

Only that she might

so,

grow

laurel

And Pan

did after Syrinx speed,

Not

nymph, but

as a

What wondrous

for a reed.

The

I lead!

life is this

my

Ripe apples drop about

head

luscious clusters of the vine

Upon my mouth do crush

The

nectarine,

Into

my

their

wine

and curious peach.

hands themselves do reach;

Stumbling on melons, as
Insnared with flowers, I

I pass
fall

on grass.

Meanwhile the mind from pleasure

Withdraws into

The mind,
Does

Yet

happiness;

its

own resemblance

Aunihilating

all that's

To a green thought

Or

at

find

creates, transcending these,

Far other worlds and other

Here

less

that ocean where each kind

straight

it

its

seas,

made

in a green shade.

at the fountain's sliding foot.

some

fruit tree's

mossy

root.

Casting the body's vest aside,

My

soul into the boughs does glide;

APPENDIX.

208

There, like a bird,

Then whets and

And

till

and

it sits

claps

prepared for longer

"Waves in

its

sings,

its silver

wings,

flight,

plumes the various

Such was the happy garden

light.

state,

While man there walked without a mate:

After a place so pure and sweet,

What

other help could yet be meet!

But 'twas beyond a mortal's share

To wander

Two
To

live in paradise alone.

How
Of

solitary there

paradises are in one.

well the skilful gardener

flowers

and herbs

this dial

drew

new

"Where from above the milder sun

Does through a fragrant zodiac run

And,

as

it

Computes

How

works,
its

th' industrious

bee

time as well as we.

coujd such sweet and wholesome hours

Be reckoned, but with

herbs and flowers

--^S<5*S&*DS^^

Anemone CWindflower),

113

Angelica,

128

Appendix,

Page
Acanthus,

25

Aconite

150

A^us Gastus

&i

Agrimony,

123

Heap of Flowers,

76

175

Apple of Peru,

194

Apples of Sodom,
April,

176

23

Artichoke, Jerusalem,

Arum,

1S5
177

Ash,

123

Almonfl

19

Ash, Mountain,

187

Aloe,

81

Asphodel,

141

Amaranth

74

Amaryllis

138

American Cowslip,

Anemone, Garden,

...

18*

Aster, China or German.

Aster, Large-flowered,

171)

August,

126

Autumn,

61

106

S3

60
(209)

210

INDEX.

INDEX.
Darnel,

51

Datura,

58

Dead Leaves,

....

December,

132

77

Deutzia,

182

Dewberries,

179

Dew

115

Plant

Dictionary of the Language

of Flowers,

....

105

Dictionary for Translating a

Banquet,

157

Directions,

101

Dittany of Crete,

...

Dodder

109
132

Uglantine

45

Elder,

Elecampane,

....

Endive,

Ill

148
122

Euphrasy, or Eyebright,

February,

Fennel
Fennel, Giant,

Fennel Flower,

....
....

183

86
147

184
183

Fern,

211
.

INDEX.

212

Harebell

Hawthorn,
Hazel
Heart'B-ease

Heath,
Heliotrope,

...

Jack-in-the-Pulpit,

23

Jamestown Weed,

1*1

January

Jasmine,

...
.

177

IW

81

JS

31

Jerusalem Artichoke,

62

Jeux Floraux,

....

163

95

181

Jonquil,

113

Hemlock,

185

Judas Tree,

186

Hiblscne,

155

July,

47

82

June,

36

Juniper,

87

Hellebore, Black,

Holly,

HoHyhook

119

Honesty,

121

28

Honeysuckle

Hornbeam,

135.

Horse-Chestnut,

...

18

Horseradish,

185

Houatonia,

127

150

Huckleberry

Hundred-Leaved Rose,

149

Hyacinth,

108

Hydrangea,

1S2

Indian Plum,
Innocence,

Introduction,
Iris,
Iris,

Ivy,

German,
.

Kalmia

1^4

213

INDEX.
147

Lavatera,

Lavender,

Lemon,

1S2

139

18

Lilac,

Lily,

Water,

115

Lily,

White,

63

Lily of the Valley,

30

Lime, or Linden,

33
52

Locust,

London

Pride,

Love

in a Mist,

187

183

Love-Iies-bieeding,

Lnpine,

75
113

Lychnis,

187

Magnolia,

137

Mauchiueel Tree.

119

Mandrake,

1-10

Maple,

March,

143
17

Marigold,

56

Marigold, Bainy,

138

Maijoram,

187

Marslimallow,

51

Marvel of Peru,

69

May,

30

Mayflower,

Meadow

Saffron.

Meadow

Sweet.

ITignnnotte,
Milfoil,

153

68
151

58
.

153

Mistletoe,

....

214

Pansy,

INDEX.

INDEX.
Scarlet Lychnis,

215

INDEX.

216
White

Lilac,

White

Lily,

ISC

63

White Poplar,

150

White Poppy,

146

White Eoao,

150

Wild Plum,

127

Wild Turnip,

177

Willow Herb,

Winter,

113

77

43

Whortleberry,

Willow,

Windflower,

18

138

Yarrow,

Tew,

153
.

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useu
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itvle is clear and concise
manual.
well in*
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formed as to the entire history of

this country.'*

Philadelphia Age.

'

Illustration to

THE DOCTOE'S DAUGHTER.

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L THE
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have first the Early Days of Dick and
uroes,jcSf a hundred pages each.
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"A- very

and their Reward, or Grandfather MilSaved from the Street

This is a charming collection, written by Miss Adelaide F. Samvolumes,
the world will hear more herethese
from
of whom, judging

Prot^g^s,
ly's

We

'

'

Luck.'

uels,

after."

American

Baptist.

SINGULAR CREATURES: Being

the

Studies and Stories from

Domestic Zoftlogy of our Parish.

CuPPLES, author of
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**

Driven

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to Sea," &c.

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years old."

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selves to the

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a pleasant flow of

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Dim

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8.

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1.

Iiion

Ben

of

The Afirican

6.

The Hardscrabble of Elm

in the

of

Island.

The

history of pioneer life is so

one involuntarily wishes to
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circumstances, and join the busy actors in
their successful efforts to build up pleasant
homes on our sea-girt islands." ZiotCs
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Herald.

With

&c

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Christian Andersen.

Illustrated.

Tarns of an Old Mariner.

By Mrs. Mary Cowden Clarke.
by Cruikshank. z6ma

SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.

THE FRONTIER SERIES

Elve

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niuBtrated.

Fer vol.,

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Camp.
i6ma A Thousand Miles' 'Walk Across
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Schoolboy Days.
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By Hans

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The Sand

their Habits. Instinct^

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SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.

JUTLAND

of Carlos and Antonio

Africa.

Anecdotes of Birds, Fishes, Reptiles,

Wonderful

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It is all downright matter-of-fact boy life, and
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Crusoe.8<

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it.

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ing

HUNTER'S LIBRARY.

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The Australian 'Wanderers.

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Hvt

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i6mo.

Six- has ttuggested nearly as many stories as the

teen illustrations.
duvalnc deeds of knight-erTantry. These
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By J. G. Edgar, i6mo. Illustrated.
often wondered why another Cervantes did
not ridicule our border romances by describ-

Men and

Four books by four noted authors comprise ing a second Don Quixote's adventures on
prairies.
We are pleased to notice, that
which contiuns Adventures by Sea the
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and Land, Manly Sports of England, Boy & Shepard, there is an agreeable absence of
Life in English Schools, Fairy Tales and sensational writing, of that maudlin senti-,
mentality which make the generality of such
Legends,
all handsomely illustrated.
tales nauseous."
Standard.
this series,

LEE

SHEPARD,

Publishers, Boston.

LEE

& SHEPARD.

Publishers, Boston.

j^
""

MISS LOUISE M. THURSTON'S

MAY MANNERING'S

CHARLEY ROBERTS SERIES.

HELPING HAND SERIES.

To,be completed in six vols.

Per volume, ^i.

Illustrated.

Six volumes.

Per voltunej

Illustrated.

^i.

Hope.

Cliiulsiiig tlie

Ho-w

Ciiarley I^oberts BeBilly Grrimes's Favorite.

oarae a ]MaxL.
Ho*w Kva ftoberts G-ained Tlie Cruise of the Daehaway.

Cez* !E]c9aoation.

Home The

Cliarley axid EJva's

in th.e "West.

Salt "Water Diok.

(Others in Freparation,)

Little IVCaid of Oxbo-sr,

In presenting the above new series the publishers believe that thev are adding to that class of
juvenile literature whose intrinsic worth is recognized by those who have at heart the good of the
young.
" They are pleasantly written books, descriptive
of the struggles and difficulties of Charley and

Eva

in attaining to manhood and womanhood,

and they are w^l adapted to stimulate a noble
ambition in the heaits of young penions.'*

LEE

& SHEPARD,

Spaniard.

Xjittle

'May Mannering'

'*

is

the

nom de plume of an

agreeable writer for tiie young folks who possesses

more tiian ordinaiy ability, and has a thorough
comprehension of the way to interest children."

Platadelphia Hem.

"We like the spirit of these books

and

cordially

iarftcs' Repository.

Publishers, Boston.

LEE

& SHEPARD,

Publishers, Boston.

'\ysAia anU attracttte."

" jBBctailnfl

VACATION STORY-BOOKS.

THE PROVERB

Six vols.

Illust.

Per

vol.,

80

cts.

exceedingly,

commend it to the notice of Sabbath

School Libraries.''

aittr

IhtBhtictiiw."

SERIES.

Bv Mrs. M. E. Bradley and Miss

Kate J. Nbbly.

Worth not Wealth.

Country Iiife.
The Charm.
Karl Eeigler.
Walter Beyton

Birds of a Feather.

Holidays at Chestnut Hill.

Fine Feathers do Hot miike Fine

Six vols.

Illust

Per

vol., $r.

Birds.

ROSY DIAMOND STORY-BOOKS.

Six volumes.

The

Illustrated.

Per

vol.,

80

cts.

Handsome does.

Handsome

is

A Wrong

Confessed

that

is half

Be-

dressed.

Gkreat

Kosy Diamond.

louder th8.n Words.

Daisy, or The Fairy Spectacles. Actions spea,k
Violet, a Fairy Story.
One Good Turn deservee another.
Minnie, or The Little Woman.
"Each volume is complete in itself, and illusThe Angel Children.
Xilttle

Blossom's Beward.

trates,

LEE

&

with a stoiy of most fliacinaling and in-

These are delightfiil works for children. They

are all very popular, and have had a wide circulaThey are now presented in a new dress.
tion.
The stories are all amusing and instructive, exhibiting human nature in children, and teaching
some very important practical lessons.

SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.

structive interest, the proverb taken for its title.

Tliese are just the kind of books that we like to
see in a family or Sunday-school library. They
will be read by persons of all ages with deep

and .afibrd instructive and' entertaining

conversation with the children.'' 8. JouttuU.
interest,

&

LEE

SHEPARD, PuUishers, Boston.

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