200 
language of flowers. 
HOLLYHOCK. 
AMBITION. 
The towering height of this majestic plant 
renders it an appropriate emblem of ambition. 
It is a native of the East Indies, China, Siberia, 
and Africa. From the French name, Rose de 
Damas, or Rose d’Outremer, it is surmised that 
the Hollyhock was first brought to Europe from 
Syria at the time of the Crusades. 
We have few flowers that contribute more to 
the embellishment of large gardens than the Hol¬ 
lyhock, whose noble stems appear like so many 
banners garnished with roses of every variety of 
colour, from the palest blush to the deepest car¬ 
mine, and from a faint white, through every 
shade of yellow, to the richest orange, from 
which the colour is carried on to a dark chesnut. 
Others are dyed of a reddish purple, deepening to 
black. These give gaiety to the shrubbery till a 
late season of the year, throwing out a succession 
of flowers till the arrival of frost. 
