6 
THE FLOWER LANGUAGE. 
inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and 
confounded ; they were as the grass of the field.” 2d 
Kings, ix. 26. 
According to Herodotus, the western nations of his 
time, in order to acknowledge their submission, collected 
grass and presented it to their conqueror. 
The wood of the Cypress was used by the ancient 
Egyptians in the manufacture of mummy cases, and the 
Greeks made their coffins of it ; in this way it became 
associated with the act of mourning, and more modern 
nations have employed the tree in cemeteries and burial 
places. 
The Laurel with the Romans was an emblem of victory, 
and was used as a wreath to crown the victor, and was 
also borne in the hands of the returning soldiery. 
Many instances of this kind may be produced, showing 
the antiquity of the signification of certain plants derived 
from their uses. 
The mythologies of various nations have contributed 
largely to the attachment of meanings and sentiments to 
plants. 
Narcissus in mythology was the son of a river-god and 
“remarkable for his beauty, but wholly inaccesible to 
love. The Nymph, Echo died of grief because he would 
