INTRODUCTION. 
Siiakspeare tells us that, “fairies use flowers 
for their charactery,” and so do mortals, for the 
language of flowers is almost as ancient and 
universal as that of speech. 
It has been said that the language of flowers 
is as old as the days of Adam, and that the an¬ 
tiquity of floral emblems dates from the first 
throbbing of love in the human breast. 
“ Flowers, the sole luxury that Nature knew 
In Eden’s pure and guiltless garden.” 
Of all peoples of whom we possess any relia¬ 
ble records, the Greeks may be accounted the 
earliest florigraphists, and they seem not only 
to have entertained the most passionate love for 
flowers, but to have adapted them as typical of 
every interesting occurrence, public or private. 
“ All those token flowers that tell 
What words can ne’er express so well.” 
