The American Garden. 



yd. XII. 



MARCH, i8qi. 



No. j. 



THE SYMBOLISM OF FLOWERS 



IN HISTORY, ROMANCE AND SONG. 



T WOULD appear that from a very early period in the his- 

 tory of the world flowers have been accepted as emblems or 

 taken as symbols or badges by widely differing races in lands 

 lying far apart. The Holy Scriptures contain many passages 

 n which flowers and plants are taken as emblems, showing that such 

 usage was well known among the Hebrews. The hieroglyphics of the 

 ancient Egyptians abound in floral symbols ; and hence we may surmise 

 that the Greeks borrowed their own figurative language of a similar 

 kind. It is shown in an ancient dream-book of Artemidorus that 

 every flower of which the ancient Greeks composed their garlands 

 had its significance ; but unfortunately only a few fragments of the 

 Greek flower language remain. 



One of the earliest uses, perhaps, of plants as symbolic of a king- 

 dom or town was the appropriation by Athens of the violet and the olive. 

 (See the head-band.) The poet alludes to the former emblem in the lines 

 where he speaks of Athens as— 



" The <,'Iorious old town, 

 Of immortal renown, 

 With the noble Ionian violet crown." 



It was stated in the old Greek myths that Pallas Athene (Minerva), who was 

 held to be the tutelary deity of Athens, had bestowed the gift of the olive 

 tree (Fig. i) upon the locality as the greatest boon that she could give. 

 Hence the olive was held as sacred to Pallas, and representations of it fig- 

 ured on the coins of Athens. 



