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glossahortensia.bsky.social
Glossa Hortensia
@glossahortensia.bsky.social
12 followers 8 following 130 posts
Speak to me in flowers.
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glossahortensia.bsky.social
Here's the passage in full, drawn from the English translation available on Wikisource en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Con...
Quote from Rousseau: "Of these recollections I shall relate one example, which may give some idea of their force and precision. The first day we went to sleep at Charmettes, the way being up-hill, and Madam de Warrens rather heavy, she was carried in a chair, while I followed on foot. Fearing the chairmen would be fatigued, she got out about half-way, designing to walk the rest of it. As we passed along, she saw something blue in the hedge, and said, 'There's some periwinkle in flower yet!' I had never seen any before, nor did I stop to examine this: my sight is too short to distinguish plants on the ground, and I only cast a look at this as I passed [...]" Quote continued: "[A]n interval of near thirty years had elapsed before I saw any more periwinkle, at least before I observed it, when being at Cressier in 1764, with my friend, M. du Peyrou, we went up a small mountain, on the summit of which there is a level spot, called, with reason, Belle-vue, I was then beginning to herbalize;—walking and looking among the bushes, I exclaimed with rapture, 'Ah, there's some periwinkle!' Du Peyrou, who perceived my transport, was ignorant of the cause, but will some day be informed: I hope, on reading this, the reader may judge by this impression, made by so small an incident, what an effect must have been produced by every occurrence of that time."
September 22, 2025 at 12:50 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
This one comes from #jeanjacquesrousseau and his 1782 Les Confessions.
Pleasures of memory - The sentiment of pleasures of memory is drawn from a passage in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's 1782 autobiographical "Les Confessions", where Rousseau, out walking with a friend, has her point out the flower to him. Many years later, when he sees the periwinkles again, he recognises it and thinks of here. @glossahortensia
September 22, 2025 at 12:50 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
PERIWINKLE - Vinca minor & Vinca major - Pleasures of memory. Read more #languageofflowers on my site, neverxnever.com/glossahorten...

#flowerlanguage #meaningofflowers #periwinkle #vinca #vincaminor #vincamajor
September 22, 2025 at 12:46 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
COCKSCOMB - Celosia argentea var. cristata - "Singularity" in the language of flowers. Read more on my website - neverxnever.com/glossahorten...

#languageofflowers #meaningofflowers #celosiaargentea #cockscomb #dandy #noai
The Cockscomb. Singularity. Celosia argentea L. (1753) variety cristata. Accompanied by a botanical illustration of a lavish red cockscomb flower, resembling a rooster's crest. Singularity. This unusually-shaped variety of Celosia, believed to have originated in India, looks like a rooster's comb. Not only does this flower have its own unique style, but 'cockscomb' was once a derisive term for a dandy or a fancy, flashy man - they both have the individuality necessary to make this the emblem of singularity. True singularity is a wonder to behold... an etching of a frazzled man, seen from behind as he climbs a staircase. He is wearing evening wear, a tailcoat with huge sleeves, a flat black hat, and has his hair aggressively parted into two fluffed wings, while his long moustache sticks out at angles making his silhouette look like a butterfly.
August 26, 2025 at 12:16 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
ABECEDARY
Acmella oleracea

Volubility

Can you feel my love buzz?

#floriography #languageofflowers #langagedesfleurs #victoriana #1800s #19thcentury #buzzbuttons
Post cover by Glossa Hortensia showing botanical illustration of a jambu plant, with colourful yellow puffs as flowers. It reads: 'Abecedary - Volubility. Acmella oleracea (L.) R.K.Jansen (1985).' Yellow post with a background of jambu flowers, reading: 'Volubility - Commonly identified as a mistake by floriography authors, the early (1811) French book Abécédaire de Flore identifies the 'abécédaire' as jambu, Acmella oleracea. It receives this playful name and the sentiment of volubility for the patterns at the top of the flower heads. @glossahortensia'. Brown post with jambu flowers in the background. A fanciful botanical illustration, from Delachénaye's 1811 book, is featured, showing a branch of jambu flowers with Latin letters formed by the dark markings on their tips. The post reads: 'The author, Delachénaye, explains that these shapes are fancied to look like letters, so the plant is called 'abécédaire' - an ABC book. Jambu is cultivated for culinary purposes, and has an unusual flavour described as tingling, cooling, or numbing, giving them the colloquial name of 'buzz buttons'.'
July 7, 2025 at 1:28 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
Louis Liger's book was 'Le Jardinier Fleuriste et Historiographe', 1704, which I have here via @gallicabnf.bsky.social : gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...
Scan of a yellowed page in French. It reads: "HISTOIRE. Paralise (c'est ansi que se nomme le ..." [continued in next image] Scan of a yellowed page in French. It reads: "... le Primevére) étoit fils de Priape, & de la nymphe Flore, 'il eut pour amante Mélicerte.  C'étoit lui qui avoit coûtume d'ordonner les cérémonies qui se devoient pratiquer aux sacrifices qu'on saisoit à son pere, il étoit d'une taille moyenne, assez beau de visage; ce qui fit que Mélicerte eut aussi pour lui beaucoup d'amour.  Rien n'étoit plus enflammé que le cœur de ces deux amans & dans le dessein qu'ils s'étoient formés de s'épouser, tout répondoit à leurs vœux, orsque par un accident auquel ils ne s'attendoient pas, & que je vas raconter, ils furent tous deux privés du bonneur de se posseder,  Mélicerte étoit intime amie d'Ino, seconde femme d'Athamas, qui ayant l'esprit troublé de fureur voulut la massacrer avec ses enfans, & comme il étoit prêt d'eu venir à l'effet, Mélicerte malheureusement se trouva dans l'occasion, & se persuadant que c'éloit elle aussi à qui ce Roy en vouloit, elle fut si saisie de frayeur, que voulant éviter le coup, elle se jetta dans a mer.  Paralyse au désespoir de cet accident ..." [continued in next image] Scan of a yellowed page. It reads, in French: "... & ne sachant quel reméde y apporter tomba pâmé douleur, mais Priape & Flore n'ayant garde de l'abandonner en cette occaſion, le changérent en la fleur du Primevére, qui est celle qui paroît la premiére au printems, APPLICATION. Quand l'amour est véritablement sincére, il est difficile de survivre à l'objet aimé, & si on ne meurt pas, la douleur qu'on en ressent est mille fois plus rude que la mort même."
May 20, 2025 at 1:20 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
After some sleuthing through Hathi trust, I was able to find the following from a 1704 book, a translation of Louis Liger's French by George London and Henry Wise. There are two versions, but they are the same story. Here is the version from 'The Compleat Florist'.
Scan of a yellowed page. The text uses 'long-s' characters. It reads: "... Placenta, or Seed-Cake. The Fable. Paralisus, for so the Primrose is call'd, was Son of Priapus, and of the Nymph Flora, and was in love with Melicerta. This ..." [continued in next image] Scan of a yellowed page. The text uses 'long-s' characters, and is from a book called 'The Compleat Florist'. It reads: "This was he who us'd to order the Ceremonies that were observ'd in the Sacrifices made to his Father. He was of a middle Stature, and very handsome in the Face; insomuch that Melicerta was likewise very much in love with him. Nothing was more inflam'd with Love, than the Hearts of theſe Two Lovers; and all things seem'd to favour their Design of marrying each other, when an unexpected Accident, which I am going to relate, depriv'd them for ever of the Blessings of mutual Enjoyment. Melicerta was an intimate Friend of Ino, Second Wife of Athamas, who being disorder'd in his Mind, would have kill'd her and her Children. Now when he was about to put this execrable Design in Execution, Melicerta happen'd unluckily to be there; and believing herself to be the Person on whom the King had a Design, was seiz'd with such a Fright, that thinking to avoid the Blow, she threw herself into the Sea. Paralisus falling into Despair for this Accident, and finding there was no Remedy against it, dy'd for Grief: But Priapus and Flora, pitying his unhappy Fate, chang'd him into the Flower of the Primrose, which is the first that blows in the Spring. The Moral. Where Love is truly sincere, 'tis not easie to survive the Object belov'd; and tho' Death should not ensue, yet our Grief for the Loss will be a thousand times more insupportable than Death itself. #mythology #1700s
May 20, 2025 at 1:06 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
But something's not quite right. Priapus & Flora aren't connected in any #pantheon pedigrees - and Priapus is the Greek and Flora the Roman name for those dieties. If we look up Melicerta on @humanitiestufts.bsky.social's Perseus, we find from Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short's A Latin Dictionary.
Screenshot of text, reading: Mĕlĭcerta and Mĕlĭcertes , ae, m., = Μελικέρτης, I. son of Ino and the Theban king Athamas. His mother, pursued by her husband in his madness, threw herself into the sea with Melicerta, who became a seagod, called by the Greeks Palaemon, and by the Romans Portunus, Ov. M. 4, 522; cf. Verg. G. 1, 437; Ov. F. 6, 485 sq.; Pers. 5, 103. [Source:] A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by. Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and. Charles Short, LL.D. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1879. [Credit:] The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text. Link: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=Melicerta&highlight=melicertes #mythology #ancientroman #ancientgreek #palaemon #portunus #ino #athamas #melicerta
May 20, 2025 at 12:50 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
I traced this back to Henry Phillips' 1824 'Flora Historica', who writes this of the 'fabulous history of the primrose' (p.52).
The Primrose was anciently called Paralisos, after the name of a beautiful youth who was the son of Priapus and Flora, and who died of grief for the loss of his betrothed Melicerta, but was preserved by his parents by being metamorphosed int this flower, which has since divided the favours of the poets with the Violet and Rose. #Priapus #Flora #Melicertes
May 20, 2025 at 12:40 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
JONQUIL
Narcissus jonquilla

Desire

The sentiment of desire arises from the jonquil's strong scent, in the tradition of the tuberose and Spanish jasmine. In Language of Flowers, Tyas says that the sentiment is the 'Turkish', so it likely comes from a similar origin as the same in tuberose.

1/2
A colour plate glued into a book, depicting a painting of a happy yellow jonquil flower, labelled as such. Printed in pink beside it are the words 'I desire a return of Affection' in intense filigree, and below, in fainter grey, plain letters: 'The joy most like divine / Of all I ever dreamt or know / To see thee, hear thee call thee mine.' The book is held open by a reading tool for the scan. #languageofflowers #botanicalart #victorianera
May 5, 2025 at 1:42 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
SWEET PEA
Lathyrus odoratus

Delicate pleasure
Departure

Phillips says that the sentiment of 'delicate pleasure', arising from the French 'plaisirs délicats' of de la Tour, is due to the flower's charming fragrance and colour.

1/4
An antique advertisement, offering 'the "Henderson" Collection of eighteen new giant Spencer sweet peas, one packet each for $1.00 post paid'. A colourful, realistic illustration shows a bulb-shaped glass vase overflowing with giant sweet pea flowers, their petals rippled with yellows, pinks, scarlet, maroon, and blue. Some of the flowers are labelled with small letters, indicating their variety for purchase. A sprig with flowers in the foreground bears a note: '"Sweet Peas" in foreground - natural size. "Sweet Peas" in vase - reduced size'. #botanicalart #victorianera #1800s #languageofflowers
May 3, 2025 at 3:30 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
HAWTHORN
Crataegus sp.

Hope

The sentiment of hope and related appear to arise from the hawthorn being famed as one of the earliest flowering trees of summer, its blossoms famously associated with May Day (1 May), marking the transition of spring into summer. 1/3
#languageofflowers #mayday
Inside of a book cover, showing a colourful illustration of red hawthorn blossom and titled 'Hawthorn', and 'Hope'. A poem is included: 'There's a voice at the heart that proclaims aloud, Ye were born to possess the better! And that voice of the Heart, O, ye may believe, Will never the Hope of the soul deceive!' #botanicalart #poetry
May 1, 2025 at 1:46 PM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
TUBEROSE
Agave amica (Medik.) Thiede & Govaerts (2017)

Voluptuousness

The sentiment is applied for the tuberose's potent scent, a quality often associated with sensuality and sexuality for authors of the period (eg Spanish jasmine).

1/4
#languageofflowers
A botanical illustration of the clustered white flowers of a tuberose, with a sketch of the tuber, labeled 'No.1817'. #botanicalart #tuberose
April 27, 2025 at 4:15 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
COLUMBINE
Genus Aquilegia L. (1753)

Folly

In Fabre d'Églantine's 1793 rural emblem annex to the French Republican calendar, Ancolie is the emblem of 6 Floréal (25 April), so happy columbine day everyone.

1/4 #languageofflowers #botanicalart
Botanical illustration of a handful of columbine flowers in yellow, red and maroon, showing their foliage, their seed pods, and a close up of the seed. It is labelled 'Columbines - (A) Aquilegia vulgaris [the maroon] (B) Aquilegia chrysantha [the yellow] (C) Aquilegia formosa [the red]. Nat. size. Pl.9.'
April 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
CORAL HONEYSUCKLE
Lonicera sempervirens L. (1753)

The Colour of My Fate

Applied by American #floriography authors to their native honeysuckle. So red, obviously, but what does that mean? What does that mean?? Is that good or bad???

What do YOU think they mean?
#languageofflowers #botanicalart
A botanical illustration of a sprig of coral honeysuckle, the scarlet tubes bursting with spark-like yellow anthers. A note at the botton reads '46.' [circle] M.V.W. 1925'.
April 24, 2025 at 7:12 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
HONEYSUCKLE
aka woodbine
Lonicera sp.

Bonds of Love
Fraternal Love

The sentiments of bonds of love and related, and of devoted affection, are easily reached from the honeysuckle - it climbs forest trees and holds them tight, marking them for life. #languageofflowers
A botanical illustration of a flowering sprig of honeysuckle and its red berries, labelled 'Vedvindel, Lonicera periclymenum'.
April 23, 2025 at 2:08 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
ITALIAN ASTER
aka Michaelmas daisy
Aster amellus

Itself all golden, but girt with plenteous leaves,
Where glory of purple shines through violet gloom.
With chaplets woven hereof full oft are decked
Heaven's altars.
- Virgil

#languageofflowers

neverxnever.neocities.org/glossahorten...
Botanical illustration of a sprig of Italian aster in flower, a soft purple blush to the petals.
April 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
BONESET
Eupatorium sp.
Delay

The sentiment of delay may simply be because it flowers late in summer.

neverxnever.neocities.org/glossahorten...

www.tumblr.com/glossahorten...
Botanical illustration of hemp agrimony, a species of boneset, in flower with diagrams of floreats.
April 13, 2025 at 1:58 AM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
FIREWEED
Epilobium angustifolium
Celibacy
Pretension

The sentiment of celibacy arises from fireweed's association with St Anthony. This comes from a belief that the herb could cure 'St Anthony's fire', a term for ergotism and various skin conditions. 🌿 neverxnever.neocities.org/glossahorten...
Botanical illustration of rosebay willowherb in full pink flower.
April 7, 2025 at 1:46 PM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
"... frontier days, winding trails, pathless prairies..."

Plant Emblems: Kansas, the Sunflower State, 1860s on, now on Glossa Hortensia on Tumblr.

#sunflower #americanhistory #history #stateemblems #kansas

www.tumblr.com/glossahorten...
March 22, 2025 at 10:50 PM
glossahortensia.bsky.social
My cyclamen in 2024, and at Ham House and Garden in 2023. Come to think of it, I guess here they sprung up in winter/spring, and I saw them in London in late summer.
February 26, 2025 at 12:54 AM