Armed with floral dictionaries, Victorians often exchanged small 'talking bouquets', called nosegays or tussie-mussies, which could be worn or carried as a fashion accessory.

Gifts of blooms, plants, and specific floral arrangements were used to send a coded message to the recipient, allowing the sender to express feelings which could not be spoken aloud in Victorian society. Interest in floriography soared in Victorian England and in the United States during the 19th century.

William Shakespeare ascribed emblematic meanings to flowers, especially in Hamlet. Plants and flowers are used as symbols in the Hebrew Bible, particularly of love and lovers in the Song of Songs, as an emblem for the Israelite people, and for the coming Messiah. Meaning has been attributed to flowers for thousands of years, and some form of floriography has been practiced in traditional cultures throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa. Color lithograph Langage des Fleurs (Language of Flowers) by Alphonse Mucha (1900)įloriography ( language of flowers) is a means of cryptological communication through the use or arrangement of flowers.

Assigned to meaning