Flower Symbolism: A Guide to Flower Meanings in History and Jewellery

Flowers are among the oldest symbols people have given one another. Their meanings, though, are not universal: the same flower can stand for mourning in one country and celebration in another, and many of the "meanings" in modern lists come from nineteenth-century books rather than ancient tradition.

The language of flowers

In the nineteenth century, a fashion for floriography, the "language of flowers", produced dozens of flower dictionaries in France, Britain and America. They assigned a sentiment to each flower so that a bouquet could carry a message. The books often disagreed, and many meanings were invented for the purpose, but they shaped how flowers are read in the English-speaking world to this day.

Older and wider traditions

Long before the Victorians, flowers carried meaning in religious art, poetry and folk custom, and in East Asia they formed their own rich symbolic vocabulary. Reading a flower well means asking which tradition it comes from.

The flowers in this Journal

• Chrysanthemum: autumn and long life in China, the imperial crest of Japan, and a flower of remembrance in parts of Europe.
• Daffodil: the national flower of Wales and a herald of spring.
• Daisy: the "day's eye", and the compass-drawn daisy wheel of old English buildings.
• Forget-me-not: remembrance and faithful love.
• Goldenrod: the gold of late summer.
• Vervain: a sacred herb of Roman ritual and European folklore.

Flowers in jewellery

A flower is one of the most personal motifs to wear: a birth month, a national emblem, a remembered garden. AURYN's flower designs can be found in the charms collection.