#Language of Flowers

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[mimimar]

(open pages for better image quality)

the moment I heard elphaba's delivery of "there's a girl i know..." in i'm not that girl i knew i had to draw this comic, i strongly recommend listening to it while you read for the full experience!

this comic is a companion to this piece (which was inspired by glinda's delivery of the same line in the i'm not that girl reprise).

pages 1-4 are from elphie's pov, pages 5-8 are from glinda's.

prints of individual pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

flower meanings in order of appearance:

[glossahortensia]

Monkshood

Knight-errantry

Aconitum napellus L. (1753)

The sentiment of knight-errantry likely requires some explanation for contemporary readers - it means to wander around in search for a quest, living the mercenary life of a knight of olden times, and from this arises the sentiment of chivalry, implied by knight-errantry.

Knight-errantry, too, implies a sort of foolhardiness; a kind of wild idleness that seeks adventure, seeing the quixotic as romantic, the danger as valour, and overlooking the potential pointlessness of a quest for the perceived valour, or that this is one's calling, and indeed purpose, regardless of its folly.

The first entry I have assigning knight-errantry is Henry Phillips' Floral Emblems. Phillips' entry quotes poet ◼︎ Charles-Louis Mollevaut, and paraphrases his passage:

Horrible, sur sa tête altière, L'Aconit, au suc malfaisant, Comme s'il s'armait pour la guerre, Élève un casque menaçant; Horrifying, on its haughty head, The aconite, with its poison, As if arming itself for war, Raises a menacing helmet.

The monkshood, says Phillips, 'rears its threatening helmet as if to protect the gayer favourites of Flora', and thus is the emblem of a knight.

Read more here on Glossa Hortensia:

Image source: Illustrations of Medical Botany, Joseph Carson, illustrated by J.H. Colen, Philadelphia: R.P. Smith (1847) via the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

[dolceaspidenera]

We all know at this point that the name Astarion is connected to the word "star" (starry or little star).

But Larian decided that they wanted to go all in with the details and they delivered!

The flower you can place on his tomb in the final romance scene (which I think is such a cute and tender gesture and I love his reaction to it), seems to be an Ornithogalum umbellatum, a star-shaped white flower with six petals. Among the plant's many common names, there are summer snowflake, starflower, and star-of-Bethlehem.

Moreover, in the language of flowers, its meanings are related to trauma, mourning, and welcoming pain without repressing it.

According to Doctor Edward Bach (1886 – 1936), these flowers are "For those who find themselves in a state of great anguish due to situations that, in a given period, have caused so much unhappiness", and can be used to help with the aftermath of a trauma, the alleviation of pain and the mourning process.

Edit: every time I see an artist include this flower in their Astarion fanart my heart swells with joy. Love this community

[festudio]

The Language of Flowers

If you've never heard of it, it was one of those long convoluted systems the Victorians came up with to express themselves.

When you search for lists of flowers and meanings from it you either find art prints or the actual scan of the old book. Here's the PDF.

However, if you've ever tried reading something written from the 1800's - let alone what's essentially an etiquette book - you will understand how absolutely infuriating it is to get info from quickly.

This is my gift to you. I've turned this into a quick reference guide for everyone. I hope it helps someone else as much as it's going to help me.

Now, let me whine a little bit. I started in the index at the back of this book. I am about half way done as of writing this section of the post. Some entries do not have page numbers. Many of these plants are duplicated because of the variety so "Lily, White" and "White Lily" are both indexed. Then, when you check the page number to make sure it's a duplicate you find that it's in an entirely different name.

First, it's sectioned by season and then subsectioned by month; except that only covers like 1/3 of the index entries. The plant's that I'm familiar with are also in seasons that they aren't IN SEASON. Daisy's are listen in Winter subsectioned February.

Then, in the middle, there's a dictionary. I almost thought I'd put in a bunch of work for naught but no. The first plant listed in not indexed at all. Turns out roughly 30-50% were not indexed.

Oh and all those indexed plants I couldn't find meanings for don't have any. The author just thought they were super neato even if they didn't have a definition yet.

And, finally, some plants from the index are not mentioned at all.

[rosieandthemoon]

details from Renaissance paintings

[random-wiki-articles]

The wiki lacks information on the language of flowers in Asia and Africa, so I included links to articles about it below. I also found an article about floral arrangement meaning for African Americans before the civil war that I thought was interesting.

https://bouqs.com/blog/plant-symbolism-in-asia/#:~:text=Hanakotoba%20is%20Japan's%20very%20own,a%20popular%20exchange%20in%20Japan!

[bewildereye]

[Start ID: A digital drawing of a bouquet of flowers on a solid light green background. The flowers are in the colours of the aromantic pride flag, with some extra green leaves as decoration. Above the bouquet it says "LET WONDER RESTORE YOU" in black text. At the bottom of the bouquet is OPs signature that says "CJD 2024". End ID]

Fern, for magic

Eucalyptus, for protection

White camellia, for steadfastness

Silver sage, for esteem

Black tulip, for power

AroAce Version

Ace Version

[ansitru]

[daffodilsinspring]

GIVING OHHC FLOWERS

Tamaki - Pink Carnation ~ I'll never forget you

Haruhi - Yellow Tulips ~ Sunshine in your smile

Kyoya - Rue ~ Clear Vision

Karou - Spearmint ~ Warmth of Sentiment

Hikaru - Crocus Spring - Youthful Gladness

Mitsukuni - Coreopsis ~ Always Cheerful

Takashi - Chamomile - Patience in Adversity

Nekozawa - White Clover - Think of Me

Kasanoda - Edelweiss ~ Courage

Renge - Peony - Bashful

Mei - Orange Rose ~ Desire,Enthusiam

[sixminutestoriesblog]

marigolds

It's October! For half the hemisphere, the nights are getting longer, the wind is getting colder and the weather is taking on a distinct grey and overcast mood. What better time than now to steal a few last bursts of brilliant, warm sunshine and keep them close against the coming of winter?

Enter October's flower (one of them) - the marigold.

An interesting thing I found while researching this month's flower was that its native to the Americas - and yet some sites list the ancient Greeks and Romans having traditions surrounding the marigold. One of the sites even mentions the flower being introduced to the 'Americas' several sentences after telling me its native to Mexico. I think some of the confusion may come from the fact that there are marigolds of the Tagetes genus, which are the ones I think of when I think of marigolds, that were first mentioned by the Aztecs and are native to the Americas - and there is a flower, Calendula officinalis, called the 'pot marigold' which comes from the same daisy family but is a different genus and seems to originate in southern Europe. To add to the confusion, the Spanish imported the Tagetes marigold from the Americas and from Spain it spread to, particularly, monastery gardens across Europe where it was cultivated into various strains with names like the African or French marigold. The American marigold didn't even have an official genus name until 1753. So, sorting through marigold myths was a lot like playing 'guess which twin it is' for me especially since the majority of the sites I was wandering through either weren't aware of a difference or didn't differentiate. I found one site that marked the difference between them (shout out to growingvale.com). I can understand why. We're only talking flower folklore here, not nuclear codes. My little nitpicky soul though just wasn't happy until it figured out what was going on. I am now going to spew facts at you and try to tell you which flower is which for each of them.

We'll see how I do.

Let's start at the beginning.

Tagetes marigolds were first recorded as being cultivated by the Aztecs, who considered them both medicinal and sacred. That tradition has carried over into Mexico's el Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, which is celebrated either in late October or Early November depending on the region. How much of that is straight from the Aztecs and how much is later European influence via Catholicism is still up for debate but the marigold plays a special part in both. The brightness and strong scent of the marigold flowers are believed to help guide the spirits of the dead to their family and to the offerings left out for them. You watched Disney's Coco (or Fox's The Book of Life), you get it. The Day of the Dead is celebrated outside of Mexico as well, with traditions varying from place to place but right now, we're talking marigolds.

In a half step to the side of that, the Victorians also considered marigolds a funeral flower but in a solemn and grief-filled way that made their cheery color inappropriate for any other kind of bouquet.

In South Asia, the Tagetes marigold has in large part replaced Calendula officinalis marigold while still serving the same purpose. There marigolds are used to create garlands and decorations for weddings, festivals and sacred holidays. Both Buddhism and Hinduism attach spiritual significance to the flowers. In India, giving a garland of marigolds to someone is considered a sign of friendship.

Walking it back to our Calendula officinalis marigold, the common name of 'marigold' is actually a break down of 'Mary's gold'. The golden colored plant was often left on alters and shrines to the Virgin Mary in Catholic countries in the middle ages by people that couldn't afford to leave actual coins. Its bright sunshine color and availability to everyone soon became associated with her.

This is the marigold that the ancient Romans and Greeks used medicinally and that medieval Europe thought was a cure against the plague. This is also the marigold that was woven into garlands for doors and livestock in Ireland to keep away fairy attention.

Both branches of flowers are popular with love superstitions, representing never having to lose a love and as a good luck charm when it comes to love.

And let's round things off with a gardening fact. Marigold are considered excellent companion plants for most vegetable gardens because they repel pests from the big to the very tiny kind. Just check before you plant. Their roots also give off an antibacterial chemical that will wreck havoc on your legumes.

Happy birthday, October babies!

[ourstaturestouchtheskies]

The Language of Flowers: An Alphabet of Floral Emblems – published by T. Nelson and Sons (1857) // Maroon – Taylor Swift

[darkrooklobby]

🤍🌼🖤

🖤Happy Valentine's day~🤍

(shiguang hanahaki edition)

[akarii-memes]

A Rose For You~

Give my Muse a Rose and see how they respond to it! Red Rose: Passion/romantic love

Pink Rose: Admiration/friendship

White Rose: innocence/Purity

Yellow Rose: Joy/Platonic Friendship

Orange Rose: Enthusiasm/Desire

Blue Rose: Mystery/Unattainable

Purple Rose: Enchantment

[shy-blue-blossom]

Lily of the Valley

Anthony Bridgerton

Words can be hurtful. Something people can forget when they speak to others. Anthony forgets this. They hurt the ones they care about. His wife heard a passing comment as she approached him, but she did not bring it up. She said farewell to the other lords and took his arm to leave. They got into the carriage with the family to go home, Anthony said goodnight before he went into his office to finish some work. After his wife got ready for bed she did not wish him a goodnight as she normally would.

Anthony woke to an empty bed the next morning, not getting a greeting from his wife. He did not want to think anything was wrong, however it was unlike her. When he entered the dining hall she was in a deep conversation with Eloise - Hyacinth was trying to listen in. He carried on with his day knowing he would speak to her later when she was free.

It was only after dinner Anthony realised he had not seen or spoken to his wife since the ball. He decided to leave his work for the rest of the day, instead he went to his room. Walking into the room, he saw his wife sitting at her vanity putting some cream onto her face and only looked his way when the door shut behind him.

"Hello dear, do you not have work to finish?" She questioned as she went back to what she doing. This surprised Anthony as she normally would give him a smile before a kiss.

"I wanted to spend some time with my beautiful wife," Anthony said as he walked over to her. "It feels like I have not seen you today," He kissed her cheek once he reached her.

She smile at the contact but said nothing. He kept kissing her and trying to get her to crack as he knew she would not out right say what is wrong. While kissing down her shoulder, he notices her latest embroidery piece sitting on the vanity. He pulled back as he asked her what the flower was, not recognising it as any he has given her.

"Lily of the valley," was the short reply he got before she stood and made her way to their bed, not noting that Anthony's gaze was on her work. She looked at him when he did not say anything, only to see him holding the embroidered piece in hand. There was hope he knew what the flower meant but she did not hold her breath as the flower was beautiful but had a sad meaning and when trying to court a young lady, you do not look to buy the flowers like that from the florist. "Are you coming to bed?" His name and title was left purposely, hoping he would not notice.

"What have I said or done to need your forgiveness?" Anthony had suddenly spun around, made his way to his wife, only to perch himself on the edge of the bed next to her. "I know, it was the comment I said at the ball the other night was it not?" Her silence was the answer. He joined her on the bed before he continued specking. "I should have known you heard me when you where quiet on the way back." Taking her hand, he pressed a kiss to her palm. "I have no apologise that will make up for what I said, I should not have been part of the conversation." He kissed up her arm as he spoke before he looked at her, not attempting to kiss her lips yet. "I sincerely apologise."

She watched him and pressed her lips to his before he could pull away once she noticed him moving away from her. Anthony laid her on her back and joined her laying on her side after parting. They stayed in each other arms, enjoying their time together knowing they cannot live with the other.

The end.

~~~~~~~~~~

Language of Flowers

Masterlist

[unfayth]

Christmas presents from my sister 🎄💘✨