The language of flowers The floral offering ; a token of affection and esteem ; comprising the language and poetry of flowers

About the book

Henrietta Dumont's floral offering pairs plants with emotional meanings and gathers verse around those associations. A daisy signifies innocence, lavender distrust, and hazel reconciliation; the garden becomes a collection of messages that can be selected and combined. The prefatory argument treats this language as an expression of the connection between nature and human feeling, while the entries turn it into material for gifts, courtship, and cultivated conversation. Poetry extends each flower's meaning beyond a dictionary definition into scenes of longing, grief, or hope. This is a historical book of symbolism and literary sentiment, rather than a scientific guide to plant identification. Its pleasure lies in watching apparently modest botanical details acquire elaborate personal and social significance within nineteenth-century gift-book culture.

• Nature and symbolism
• Emotional expression
• Gift and courtship

Why read it

The entries reveal how readers could make a bouquet carry a miniature literary conversation.

English text of the 1851 Philadelphia edition