Daisy
Innocence 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".
Meaning
Charlotte de La Tour gives the little daisy Innocence. Her meadow daisy says J'y songerai, "I will think of it": in the age of chivalry, she writes, a lady who would neither accept nor refuse a suitor wore a crown of white daisies. Her double daisy says "I share your sentiments", because a knight whose lady let him engrave the flower on his arms had her public confession of love. The English version of her book keeps all three. Henrietta Dumont's Floral Offering (Philadelphia, 1851) gives "innocence" and quotes Shakespeare's daisy "whose white investments figure innocence"; Sarah Josepha Hale's Flora's Interpreter (Boston, 1832) gives "beauty and innocence". Kate Greenaway's Language of Flowers (1884) has five daisies, adding "farewell" for the Michaelmas daisy and "beauty" for the parti-coloured one. The daisy is also the Old Farmer's Almanac's first flower for April.
Origin and history
The English books told a Roman fable of the daisy's origin. The English version of La Tour, Dumont and Richard Folkard's Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics (1884) all give it: the daisy, Latin bellis, was once Belides, a nymph of the meadows, who turned into the flower to escape the god of orchards, Vertumnus. They also give the English name's origin, "day's eye", from the flower's habit of closing at night.
Daisies in a bouquet
Because each kind of daisy carried a different reply, the daisy was useful in a message bouquet. Cornell University Library's exhibition on the language of flowers shows a bouquet that says "I share your sentiments" (garden daisy) about "the first emotions of love" (lilac). A plate in Dumont's book pairs a daisy with a wallflower and a Tulip: "Your innocence and fidelity in misfortune have caused me to declare my love for you."
The Michaelmas daisy's afterthought
The meanings moved between plants. Brent Elliott, of the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library, notes that "afterthought" belonged to the Michaelmas daisy from La Tour on, until John Ingram's Flora Symbolica (1869) gave it to the China aster instead.
See also
April birth flowers: daisy and sweet pea, Tulip, Red rose, White rose, Yellow rose, Pink rose.
Sources
- 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, Dictionnaire, “Innocence”, “J’y songerai”, “Je partage vos sentiments”
- The Language of Flowers: The Floral Offering, by Henrietta Dumont, 1851, H. C. Peck & Theo. Bliss, Philadelphia (Project Gutenberg edition), Daisy chapter
- 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, Daisy
- Language of Flowers, illustrated by Kate Greenaway, 1884, George Routledge and Sons (Project Gutenberg edition), Daisy
- Le Langage des Fleurs, Charlotte de La Tour (Written in Petals), Written in Petals: The Language of Flowers in Victorian Europe, online exhibition, Cornell University Library
- 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, p. 40
- Birth Flowers by Month: Discover Your Monthly Flower & Meaning, Catherine Boeckmann, updated 17 September 2026, The Old Farmer’s Almanac, April
- The Language of Flowers, with Illustrative Poetry, by Frederic Shoberl, seventh edition, 1840, Saunders & Otley, London (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library copy), Daisy; Dictionary
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Last reviewed September 29, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research