The language of flowers
What the nineteenth-century flower dictionaries said each flower meant, and where they disagree.
The language of flowers was a nineteenth-century fashion for giving every flower a sentiment, so that flowers could carry a message. Its books were dictionaries: look up “Love” in the English edition of 1840 and it offers myrtle or the rose. Each page here, such as the red rose or the Orchid, says what each book made of one flower.
- Red roseIn the nineteenth-century flower dictionaries the rose meant love, or beauty. Charlotte de La Tour's French original of 1819 gave "beauty"; the English and American books that followed her mostly gave "love".
- White roseA white rose meant silence in Charlotte de La Tour's flower dictionary and its English version, after the story of Love giving a rose to the god of silence. Later books changed it: Kate Greenaway made it "I am worthy of you", and Henrietta Dumont headed her chapter "I would be single".
- Yellow roseThe flower dictionaries made the yellow rose a flower of infidelity or jealousy. Charlotte de La Tour gave "infidelity", Henrietta Dumont "jealousy", Kate Greenaway "decrease of love, jealousy", and Sarah Josepha Hale, on her own, "let us forget".
- Pink roseThe flower dictionaries sorted roses by kind rather than by colour, so their pink roses are particular varieties. Sarah Josepha Hale made the pink damask rose "bashful love"; the hundred-leaved rose meant "grace" to Charlotte de La Tour, "dignity of mind" to Hale and "pride" to Kate Greenaway.
- LilyIn the flower dictionaries the lily meant majesty: Charlotte de La Tour called it "the king of flowers, whose queen is the rose". American and later English books made the white lily mean purity instead, the meaning Christian painting had given it since the Middle Ages.
- TulipA declaration of love is the tulip's meaning in nearly every flower dictionary, from Charlotte de La Tour's in 1819 on. Later English lists added colours: Kate Greenaway made the red tulip a declaration of love, the yellow "hopeless love", the variegated "beautiful eyes", and the tulip alone "fame".
- SunflowerIn the flower dictionaries the sunflower meant "false riches", from the story that Spanish conquerors took fields of sunflowers in Peru for gold. American and later English books preferred adoration: Sarah Josepha Hale's dwarf sunflower says "your devout adorer".
- DaisyInnocence is the daisy's meaning in nearly every flower dictionary. The books also told daisies apart: the meadow daisy said "I will think of it", and the double garden daisy "I share your sentiments".
- VioletModesty, in almost every flower dictionary, because the violet hides among its leaves. Colour changed the meaning: Sarah Josepha Hale and Kate Greenaway made the blue violet "faithfulness", the white violet stood for candour or innocence, and Greenaway's yellow violet for "rural happiness".
- Forget-me-notThe forget-me-not's meaning is its name: "forget me not", or in Charlotte de La Tour's French "remember me; do not forget me". American and later English books added "true love".
- PoppyIn the flower dictionaries the red poppy meant consolation, and the white poppy sleep or "my bane, my antidote". Since 1921 the red poppy has had a living meaning as well: in Britain and Canada it is worn in remembrance of those who died in war.
- IrisThe iris meant "message" in the flower dictionaries, after Iris, the rainbow messenger of the Greek gods. Sarah Josepha Hale gave it "my compliments" instead, and the German iris, the fleur-de-lis, meant "flame".
- LavenderThe flower dictionaries made lavender a flower of distrust, from an old belief that asps lived under it. Sarah Josepha Hale, in Boston, gave it the opposite: "acknowledgement".
- PeonyThe flower dictionaries disagreed about the peony. Charlotte de La Tour made it "shame", reading its red as a guilty blush; Sarah Josepha Hale and Henrietta Dumont made it "anger", from its fiery colour; Kate Greenaway gave "shame, bashfulness". In China the tree peony is called the king of flowers.
- CarnationCharlotte de La Tour gave the carnation "ardent and pure love". The English and American books split carnations and pinks by colour, so that Kate Greenaway's deep red carnation says "Alas! for my poor heart" and the yellow one "disdain". Since 1908 the white carnation has also been the emblem of Mother's Day in the United States.
- ChrysanthemumThe English flower lists gave the chrysanthemum meanings by colour: Kate Greenaway made the red "I love", the white "truth" and the yellow "slighted love". In Japan the chrysanthemum is the emblem of the imperial family.
- HyacinthFor Charlotte de La Tour and the English books that followed her, the hyacinth meant "game" or "play", after the Greek myth of Hyacinthus, killed by a thrown discus. American books made the blue hyacinth "constancy" instead.
- Orchid"A belle" is the orchid's meaning in the English and American flower dictionaries. Charlotte de La Tour listed only the fly orchid, which she made "error", because it looks so like a bee that people are deceived.
The first book
Le Langage des fleurs was published in Paris in 1819 under the name Charlotte de La Tour. Brent Elliott’s 2013 history for the RHS Lindley Library calls it the first book devoted solely to the subject, and the one translated into other languages. It was arranged by season, in essays on single plants, and offered 330 different senses. Elliott accepts Seaton’s verdict that the author was probably Louise Cortambert. Its dictionary is headed “Pour écrire un billet ou composer un sélam” (to write a note or compose a sélam); Elliott takes sélam to be a corruption of salaam, the Arabic greeting, and knows of no evidence that it was used in Turkey.
How the books copied and contradicted each other
The English version appeared in 1834. Its seventh edition (1840), revised by Frederic Shoberl, the editor of Forget Me Not, follows the French closely: both make lavender mistrust, because the asp was once believed to live under it. In Boston, Sarah Josepha Hale’s Flora’s Interpreter (1832) made lavender acknowledgement and warned that the authorities “sometimes differ”. Henrietta Dumont’s Floral Offering (Philadelphia, 1851) disagrees with itself: her chapter makes the Hyacinth constancy, her dictionary “game, play”, as La Tour had it. Kate Greenaway (London, 1884) gives the hyacinth “sport, game, play” and lavender distrust.
Later books moved meanings from one flower to another. From 1869, Elliott finds, John Ingram gave the China aster the “after-thought” that had belonged to the Michaelmas daisy since La Tour. When a late book gave the tulip “charity”, the turnip’s meaning, Elliott suspects sloppy handwriting.
Reading these pages
Each page gives the meanings book by book, with the year, and translates La Tour’s French. Where one book copies another, the page counts them as one view. The language is used again today: the Royal Horticultural Society notes that by the early 21st century it was being used to choose wedding flowers, and that the florist Shane Conolly put hyacinths, for constancy, in the bouquet of Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Sources
- The Language of Flowers, with Illustrative Poetry, by Frederic Shoberl, seventh edition, 1840, Saunders & Otley, London (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library copy), title page; Dictionary, “Love”, “Mistrust”, “Game, Play”
- Forget Me Not for 1836 (ed. Frederic Shoberl), Forget Me Not; a Christmas, New Year's, and Birthday Present, for MDCCCXXXVI, edited by Frederic Shoberl (London: Ackermann, 1836), Internet Archive, title page
- The Victorian Language of Flowers (Brent Elliott, 2013), Brent Elliott, "The Victorian language of flowers", Occasional Papers from the RHS Lindley Library 10: 3–94 (2013), Royal Horticultural Society, via the Internet Archive, pp. 4–5, 12, 40–41, 47
- Le Langage des fleurs (Charlotte de La Tour, 13th edition), Charlotte de La Tour, Le Langage des fleurs, treizième édition augmentée (Paris: Garnier frères, [1856]); first published 1819, Cornell University Library, via the Internet Archive, préface; Dictionnaire, “Méfiance”, “Jeu”
- Flora's Interpreter (Sarah Josepha Hale, 1832), Sarah Josepha Hale, Flora's Interpreter, or the American Book of Flowers and Sentiments (Boston: Marsh, Capen and Lyon, 1832), Boston Public Library, via the Internet Archive, Introduction; Lavender
- The Language of Flowers: The Floral Offering, by Henrietta Dumont, 1851, H. C. Peck & Theo. Bliss, Philadelphia (Project Gutenberg edition), Hyacinth chapter; Dictionary of Flowers
- Language of Flowers, illustrated by Kate Greenaway, 1884, George Routledge and Sons (Project Gutenberg edition), Hyacinth; Lavender
- The language of flowers: a lover’s code (RHS Libraries), Royal Horticultural Society
Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research