When people present a bouquet of flowers as a gift, they, as a rule, do not think about what symbolic meaning it contains. Meanwhile, there is even a special science "fluorography" dedicated to the language of flowers.
Originally, the language of flowers was invented in oriental harems. Bored odalisks, unable to even leave the house and often languishing for years in anticipation of the attention of their master, transferred their feelings and experiences to the objects around them, including flowers. Their associations gradually acquired the meaning of symbols. Over time, the secret language of flowers was mastered by men, and it gained popularity as a way to talk about their true feelings without words.
The language of flowers came to Europe thanks to the French traveler Franz Aubrey de Montreux. In 1727, he published a book "A Journey through Europe, Asia and Parts of Africa", where, among other interesting information, he spoke about the floral symbols that exist in Persia and Turkey. However, the real popularity of the language of flowers was due to the wife of the English ambassador to Turkey, Mary Wortley Montague. In 1763 her "Notes" were published, in which she described the eastern language of love correspondence "villages". The main role in it was assigned to flowers. The ability to decipher the meaning of flowers has become a real art. At the same time, every detail mattered - when and how the bouquet was presented, in which hand it is held, how many flowers it contains, etc.
In 1819, the first floral dictionary was published in Paris, authored by Charlotte de la Tour. The most popular publication on the language of flowers, however, was Flower Traditions: The History, Poetry, and Symbolism of Flowers by the Scottish Miss Coruthers.
In Russia, the first and perhaps the only book completely devoted to the language of flowers, Selam, or the Language of Flowers, was published in 1830. Its author, poet Dmitry Oznobishin, described the meaning of almost 400 plants. In addition to the story about the symbolic meaning, each of them was accompanied by a replica from a conversation in the language of flowers.
For example, a white carnation symbolizes innocence and pure love, a pink one says: "I will never forget you," and a yellow one: "You disappointed me." The spiny cactus, oddly enough, denotes warmth and constancy. With the help of a lily of the valley, the young man tells the girl that she has become an adornment of his life. The white lily, in addition to the traditional symbol of purity and innocence, is a sign of admiration for a beautiful beloved.
The rose is a well-known symbol of love, but each color gives the flower a special meaning. White embodies secret chaste love, yellow - jealousy, accompanied by a weakening of feelings, pink - the promise of happiness. Red tulips are also an explanation of love, but yellow ones do not at all mean separation, as was sung in the once famous song, but they tell the girl that her smile is beautiful, like sunlight.
The number of flowers that make up the bouquet also matters. So, one flower is given as a sign of attention, three - respect, five - recognition, and seven - love. By the way, contrary to the generally accepted idea that the number of colors must certainly be odd, starting from 10, it can be anything.
Unfortunately, today the flower language is almost forgotten, but it can and should be studied. For this purpose, you can use books on floristry and phytodesign. Interesting and informative sections on the language of flowers are contained in the books "The Basics of Phytodesign" by Diana Grozhan and Victoria Kuznetsova, "Ikebana, Arrangement, Floristics: The Art of Bouquet Drawing" by Marina Vitvitskaya, "Flowers for Love" by Zinaida Maltseva.
