May birth flowers: lily of the valley and hawthorn
May’s birth flowers are the lily of the valley and the hawthorn. The Victorian flower dictionaries gave the lily of the valley “return of happiness” and the hawthorn hope.
Meaning
The Old Farmer’s Almanac gives both flowers and lists the lily of the valley’s other names: Our Lady’s tears, May lily and May bells. University of Illinois Extension and West Virginia University Extension give the lily of the valley alone. It is Convallaria majalis, a creeping perennial of Eurasia in the asparagus family, with fragrant white bell-shaped flowers (NC State Extension). The hawthorn is the white thorn of English hedges. Penn State Extension’s Master Gardeners say the meanings rest “on folklore and tradition passed on through generations” and vary with the source and the time.
Origin and history
The hawthorn took its other name from the month. Frederic Shoberl wrote in 1840 that it “held a distinguished place among the May-day sports of our ancestors”, and that from flowering in May it was called May more often than by its proper name. The Old Farmer’s Almanac says it was known as “Mary’s Flower of May”. The lily of the valley is a May flower in the older books too: in the saints’-day Calendar of Flowers that Henrietta Dumont printed in 1851, it falls on 8 and 9 May.
Return of happiness: the lily of the valley
Kate Greenaway (1884), Shoberl and Dumont’s dictionary give the lily of the valley return of happiness, and Shoberl explains why: it “announces by its elegance and its odour the happy season of the year”. Dumont’s longer entry gives it modesty instead. University of Illinois Extension today gives “sweetness, humility, return to happiness”.
Our Lady’s tears
Katharine Beals (1917) gathers the lily of the valley’s Christian names and stories. One emblem of the Virgin is a lily of the valley among thorns; the flower was called Our Lady’s tears, and, as the ladder to heaven, it was dedicated to Whitsuntide. A legend from the forest near Limoges, in France, says the flowers came up wherever the blood of the hermit St Leonard fell in his battles with a dragon.
Hope: the hawthorn
Greenaway, Shoberl and Dumont give the hawthorn hope. Shoberl adds two older uses. Among the Greeks it was a sign of marriage: its flowering boughs were carried at weddings, and the couple were lighted to the bridal chamber with torches of its wood. Among the Turks, a branch of hawthorn told a lover’s wish for a kiss.
Where you’ll see it today
whatdoesthissymbolmean.comMay birthstone: emeraldThe same month's birthstoneSee also
January birth flowers: carnation and snowdrop, February birth flowers: violet and primrose, March birth flowers: daffodil and jonquil, April birth flowers: daisy and sweet pea, June birth flowers: rose and honeysuckle, July birth flowers: larkspur and water lily.
Sources
- Monthly Birth Flowers, Master Gardeners of Luzerne County, Penn State Extension
- Birth Flowers by Month: Discover Your Monthly Flower & Meaning, Catherine Boeckmann, updated 17 September 2026, The Old Farmer’s Almanac
- Floriography: The meaning of flowers, Bruce J. Black and Rhonda Ferree, updated November 2022, University of Illinois Extension
- WL 173 Floriography: The Language of Flowers, Natasha Harris and Jesica Streets, 2022, West Virginia University Extension
- Language of Flowers, illustrated by Kate Greenaway, 1884, George Routledge and Sons (Project Gutenberg edition)
- The Language of Flowers: The Floral Offering, by Henrietta Dumont, 1851, H. C. Peck & Theo. Bliss, Philadelphia (Project Gutenberg edition)
- The Language of Flowers, with Illustrative Poetry, by Frederic Shoberl, seventh edition, 1840, Saunders & Otley, London (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library copy)
- Flower Lore and Legend, by Katharine M. Beals, 1917, Henry Holt and Company, New York (Internet Archive)
- Convallaria majalis (Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox), NC State Extension
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Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research