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271
The Folk-lore of Plants
·
T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
160
In
some
cases
flowers
seem
to
have
derived
their
symbolism
from
certain
events
associated
with
them.
Thus
the
periwinkle
signifies
"early
recollections,
or
pleasures
of
memory,"
in
connection
with
which
Rousseau
tells
us
how,
as
Madame
Warens
and
himself
were
proceeding
to
Charmattes,
she
was
struck
by
the
appearance
of
some
of
these
blue
flowers
in
the
hedge,
and
exclaimed,
"Here
is
the
periwinkle
still
in
flower."
Thirty
years
afterwards
the
sight
of
the
periwinkle
in
flower
carried
his
memory
back
to
this
occasion,
and
he
inadvertently
cried,
"Ah,
there
is
the
periwinkle."
Incidents
of
the
kind
have
originated
many
of
the
symbols
found
in
plant
language,
and
at
the
same
time
invested
them
with
a
peculiar
historic
interest.
Once
more,
plant
language,
it
has
been
remarked,
is
one
of
those
binding
links
which
connects
the
sentiments
and
feelings
of
one
country
with
another;
although
it
may
be,
in
other
respects,
these
communities
have
little
in
common.
Thus,
as
Mr.
Ingram
remarks
in
the
introduction
to
his
"Flora
Symbolica"
(p.
12),
"from
the
unlettered
North
American
Indian
to
the
highly
polished
Parisian;
from
the
days
of
dawning
among
the
mighty
Asiatic
races,
whose
very
names
are
buried
in
oblivion,
down
to
the
present
times,
the
symbolism
of
flowers
is
everywhere
and
in
all
ages
discovered
permeating
all
strata
of
society.
It
has
been,
and
still
is,
the
habit
of
many
peoples
to
name
the
different
portions
of
the
year
after
the
most
prominent
changes
of
the
vegetable
kingdom."
In
the
United
States,
the
language
of
flowers
is
said
to
have
more
votaries
than
in
any
other
part
of
the
world,
many
works
relative
to
which
have
been
published
in
recent
years.
Indeed,
the
subject
will
always
be
a
popular
one;
for
further
details
illustrative
of
which
the
reader
would
do
well
to
consult
Mr.
H.G.
Adams's
useful
work
on
the
"Moral
Language
and
Poetry
of
Flowers,"
not
to
mention
the
constant
allusions
scattered
throughout
the
works
of
our
old
poets,
such
as
Shakespeare,
Chaucer,
and
Drayton.
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