194 
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 
Hollyhock, whose noble stems appear like so 
many banners garnished with roses of every 
variety of colour, from the palest blush to the 
deepest carmine, 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 pimple, 
deepening to black. These give gaiety to the 
shrubbery till a late season of the year, throw¬ 
ing out a succession of flowers till the arrival of 
frost. 
