Elizabeth Wirt and the Language of Flowers
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3 min readMost of us know the traditional meanings attached to a few common flowers. A dozen red roses add up to one powerful declaration of love. White lilies, often seen at funerals, suggest that our departed loved ones are at peace. Sunflowers evoke the warmth of high summer, both literally and emotionally.
Once we get beyond a few basics, though, the average modern American doesn’t know very many flower meanings, and we’d be hard pressed to say if the bouquet we bought as a hostess gift meant “thank you” or something more like “stop calling me.” We’re more likely to pick out flowers for their appearance than for the message they send.
Yet there was a time when it was trendy to send messages via flowers, and many people knew just how to communicate a sentiment like “You don’t know how beautiful you are” (an arrangement of red daisies) or “I’m angry” (a bouquet of peonies). And as unlikely as it might seem today to express that latter message via flowers, the people of the 19th century could and did communicate all kinds of things, from love to hate, when they gave each other flowers.
Richmond native Elizabeth Wirt (1784 – 1857) was the author who brought the language of flowers to the people of the U.S. when she wrote her extensive guide to the meanings of flowers, “Flora’s Dictionary.” Hers was the first publication of its kind on this side of the Atlantic, a comprehensive look at flowers, herbs, and other plants along with the meanings that were associated with them and the ways people could communicate using them.
Wirt’s 1829 book followed a tradition that was already underway in England, France, and points east, but which had not yet gained much traction in the New World. Though Wirt was influenced by the English and French guides that had already been introduced, it was the mystique of the Middle East that she evoked for her readers in her book’s introduction:
Compared with modern manners, either in Europe or America, what is there that can vie, in picturesque beauty, with the Persian youth, gracefully presenting a rose to his mistress? What language can convey a compliment so delicate and exquisite? And if a communication of a still more interesting nature be intended, how much more refined, poetic and affecting is the mute eloquence of the Eastern lover, than those awkward and embarrassing declarations which are in use in other countries! How much easier is it to present a flower, than to make a speech!
But the language of flowers was not one for the lazy, even if Wirt made it sound like a quick way to skirt a conversation. The meanings she assigned to plants were often subtle and complex: The single china aster represented “I will think of it” (presumably in response to another message sent via flowers), while the double china aster communicated “I partake your sentiments.” The various colors and states of roses each had their own meanings, from “beauty” for a red rose to “bashful shame” for a deep red rose (so the lover needed to make sure to assess the depth of the red rose’s color carefully), “ingratitude” for a rose with the thorns removed to “transient impressions” for a white rose that had withered.
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