Flowers are used to convey all sorts of emotions in almost all cultures of the world. They are used at weddings, funerals, and other significant occasions. They can bring happiness, memories and passion alike. The effect that flowers have on people may be because of their aroma or the colours, but whatever it may be there is no doubt that plants have been used as a form of expression ever since the Romans wore a crown of oak leaves to show bravery and used the olive branch as a symbol of peace.
This method of communicating without words was so common that there existed a science and art called floriography. In the 1800’s floriography was used to send coded messages when words fell short.
To help people to break the code, there existed various dictionaries like Language of Flowers by Kate Greenway, Le langage des fleurs in French by Charlotte de La Tour and Flowers Personified by Nehemiah Cleaveland.
The most common flower when it comes to gifting is probably the rose. It is a well-known fact that the red rose is a sign of love and passion, but there exist over a hundred species of roses and almost all of them have a special meaning. The pink rose, for instance, signifies grace while a yellow rose, though sometimes looked upon as a sign of friendship, also means jealousy, a broken heart or infidelity and is the best flower to send someone you want to apologise to.
The China rose or hibiscus signifies ‘a beauty always new’.
Lilies are fragrant, lovely flowers and while the white lily is a symbol of purity, the scarlet one signifies high aspirations, and if you really hate someone you can let them know by sending them orange lilies. The lily of the valley brings about a return of happiness while yellow lilies mean falsehood.
In India we decorate wedding mandaps with marigolds. To us the bright yellow of these flowers signifies prosperity and good luck. In temples these strong smelling flowers are used for garlands and to honour gods and goddesses. Though the marigold is auspicious for us, for the Victorians it denoted grief. The sweet smelling jasmine used in gajras that women adorn their hair with signifies attachment in all cultures and in South India it is also used as decoration during weddings.
The Japanese also have a language of flowers called Hanakotoba, which differs a little from the European interpretation of the codes of flowers.
For instance red carnations in Japan signify love and fascination while in the European version a carnation is a code of ‘Alas! My poor heart.’ The cherry blossom signifies a kind and gentle Japanese person while it is a symbol of good education in the west.
Most of these old books about the meaning of flowers are available free in online archives. It is easy to make your own code language with your friends and communicate without anyone knowing what you mean.
If you want to say, “Tell me the truth,” you can send white chrysanthemums. A leaf from the evergreen thuja tree will tell someone that your friendship is unchanging. The Cobaea scandens flower better known as cathedral bells can indicate that you have some juicy gossip. While a sprig of sweet basil sent during exams will tell them that you send good wishes.
So now if someone gives you a red rose and you don’t know what to say, you could send them a daisy, which says, “I will think about it” but be sure they have the Language of Flowers book so they don’t misunderstand!