Treasures New & Old; What Are They Saying
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The Victorians spoke of, if they were not actually speaking in, the language of the flowers.
It seems that using the language of the flowers allowed courting couples to say things to each other that propriety forbade their saying in plain English.
Much was said in those days without actually saying it. Indirection, for which read quite often, flirting, must often have been annoying, yet some people enjoyed it. Some would have said that all the mystery was taken out of life when plain speech (and beyond) became the way to speak in all situations.
Many flowers have very interesting names, apart from how the flowers themselves look, perfume the air, or inspire love poems. British names for flowers are a study in themselves.
Chrysanthemum is a pretty common flower in this country. It’s a fall favorite and its yellow, gold, and bronze blossoms join together to make a fall wedding, for example, seem to embody the warmth of a perfect fall day.
The name is a literal translation of two Greek words meaning gold and flower.
Another fall flower is Michaelmas daisy. Michaelmas is a Christian festival day, Sept. 29, honoring St. Michael the Archangel. In this country, the flower is called an aster.
In this case, the Michael is pronounced mickle, micklemas. (Why?)
If a Michaelmas daisy is mentioned in a British story, the reader is meant to understand that the action is taking place in autumn.
Another flower sometimes mentioned in British stories is ranunculus.
It is related to the buttercup, which is one of the most charming of flower names, never mind that sometimes the plant itself considered a weed.
Ranunculus and buttercup don’t look anything alike, though. Ranunculus has been compared with an origami creation; a buttercup is pretty simple in structure. The blossom is cuplike and a clear, sunny yellow.
Gypsophila is a name new to me. The flower is more commonly known as baby’s breath, a much better name for a tiny white flower that makes almost any bouquet more appealing.
Why does the name gypsophila make me think of wallboard? It’s because the name comes from the Greek words for chalk and for love. In Europe the flower grows on dry, chalky slopes.
Clematis vitalba sounds scholarly; others call this flower old man’s beard. It has many thin, almost hairlike petals, so hairlike that the Latin name is related to lanugo, the downy hair with which newborns are covered at birth.
Maybe they’re not petals; maybe they’re sepals. We’d have to ask a botanist.
Edward Lear was a grown man who could think like a child and make almost anyone laugh.
“Old man’s beard” inspired this gem: “There was an old man with a beard, Who said, ‘It’s just as I feared: Two owls and a hen, Four larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard.’ ”
Fritillaries are interesting or beautiful flowers, or both interesting and beautiful. The name comes from the Latin for dice-box, simply, the box from which dice are thrown.
Some species have nasty smells but they all seem to be lovely to look at.
One species is called mission bells in this country, which tells you the general shape of fritillaries. It is a huge plant family with many uses and variants. In China some species are used as medicines.
Fritillary means many kinds of butterflies as well as many of flowers.
Artists who specialized in painting flowers often painted fritillaries. Many such pictures are lush and colorful. A favorite way to paint them was to combine species from different seasons.
Jean Baptist Drechsler was a famous painter of flowers who died in 1811. His pictures of bouquets are often featured on expensive notecards.
Fritillaries are just enough different from roses to hold one’s attention and make one ask, “What is that flower?”
So there you have a few words you may never have heard before.
May they help with your next really difficult crossword puzzle.
