Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-02-24
FLOWERS AS EMBLEMS.
A Form of Heraldry Whose Hrys-
tories Are Past Finding Out.
Love. Historicsa and Romantic, Regarding
the Various Floral Badges Told of in
Ancient aud Modern Myths,
Traditions and Theories.

IA good SYMBOL it was the opinion of
Emerson, sis the best argument, and is
missionary to persuade thousands. There
is no more welcome gift to men than new
symbol" This, says the London Standard,
may possibly account for the rise, popular
ity and persistence of floral symbols.
Yet it seems difficult to explain why
Wales should have chosen the leek for its
cognizance. though the Cymric poets have
good deal to say about the broom. The
Scottish thistle is more to the point. Yet
the northern botanists are by no means at
one in assigning that heraldic plant to any
known species, or even in agreeing that it
is Carduus at all. The plant with which
Holyrood is decked on festive days is usual
ly the cotton thistle, which is certainly not
wild plant in North Britain. The rose has,
OF course, romantic tale to explain its
choice as the emblem of old England
though, like the majority of such tales, this
legend may belong to the myths OF the
post hoe, prOpter hoe order. The fleur.de-lls
OF France is still less easy of explanation
For, though 1t Is conventionally regarded as
lily, the heraldic painters have so effectu-
ally disguised it that it is now q mere
matter of choice to say what it is. AS early
as the year 1911 Givillin (who was in those
days considered a cunning finder out of
hidden things) regarded the device on the
Bourbon flag as "three toads," and it Is
affirmed that it was in allusion to these sup
posed symbols of their country that the
popular nickname of "Jean Crapauds" was
bestowed on the French people. Still more
recently, owing to certain ornaments re-
sembling bees having been found in the
tomb of Chiideric, father of Clovis, it has
been thought that perhaps these insects,
and not lilies or toads, are represented on
the white flag.
1t would certainly be difficult for any one
to explain why Florence adopted the ''giglio
blanco," Prussia the lime, Saxony the mig
nonette, or Ireland the shamrock, unless,
indeed, we are to accept without question
the legend fSt. Patrickan his demonstra-
tion through it of the mystery Of the Trim
lty. Nor is It much easier for any one who
is critical anent popular myths to account
for the white lily being the badge of the
Ghibellines, and the red of the Guelphs, any
more than 1t is explicable why the Yorkists
took the white rose and the Lancastrians
the red, or why the heartsease was the en-
blem of the "violet'crowned' city of Athens.
Again, why was Apollo supposed to love
the laurel and the cornell cherry, Pluto the
" press anu Audlu6n Hdlf--d llOlSIGre-
loving fern, which we may take for grant
ed could not be very plentiful in his CHOSEN
realm-Luna the dlttany, Ceres the daffo-
dill, Jupiter the oak, Minerva the olive,
Bacchus the vine, and Venus the myrtle
shaded
Why, again, is the Canterbury-bell the
flower of St. Augustine2 Why is the GRO
Gus the emblem of st. Valentine-unless it
happens to appear about his festival time
the cardamine of the Virgin Mary, or the
st. John n's-wort of the beloved apostle! Mr..
CONNIE may, perhaps, hint at these flowers
having been "totems," and possibly the
flowers were actually favorites with those
whose cogE!zance they became after their
death or were borne on Jnelr smelds a.
heraldic emblems during life. But still.
the endless floral badges of the highland
clans are left in the regions of airy myth.
like the betony which was apportiorod tc
st. Ffraed as symbol of the double share
Of grace with which he was endowed, or
the lily of st. Thomas A'Beckett, or tho
convai!aria, which, according to a hagiolog-
ical myth, sprang up from the blood of the
dragon which St Leonard slew in q wood
standing on the site now occupied by the
suburb of Hastings bearing his name
1t is scarce ly less puzzing to give rea-
sonable explanation of why certain flowers
are assigned to, or have been appropriated
by, certain individuals.
The Napoleonic violet Is a case in point
The modest plant which once made all
Paris fragrant on the Bonapartist fete day
was never an object of concern to the "Lit-
tie Corporal" !" and only very credulous peo-
pie now swallow the romantic legend of his
telling his adherents, when banished to
Elba, that he would ''come back with the
violets." The story was an invention of
after times.
Nor has any one to our knowledge gone
into the origin Of the scarlet carnation as
the chosen flower of the Stuarts. Jacob
itism-the Jacobitsm of the Pretender and
of the gallant gentlemen who mounted the
white cockade and lost their heads for their
pans-is now vanished faith. Yet to
this day mysterious hands yearly deposit
wreaths of carnations on the tombs of
Cardinal York and other members of the
hapless line of James III.
Later floral embems are less difficult to
explain. In truth, except for the problem
which individual tastes must always re-
main, there is no great puzzle in the mat
ter. The old Kaiser Wilhelm, of Germany,
who in spite Of his military reputation and
general drill sergeantry, was wonder
fully sufRused with the Teutonic senti-
mentality which pervaded Germany in his
boyhood, was fond Of the corn-fower, and
wherever he went, in his later days at least,
the whole country side blossomed forth in
blue in his honor. The old Emperor's de-
votion to the memory of his mother
amounted to 'cult" and one of his earliest
recollections OF her was that when she and
her boys were fugitives from Berlin on the
occasion Of one of Napoleon's invasious, she
rested for a moment by corn-Aeld, and
amused them by plucking the blue corn
flowers and making them wreaths and nose
gays.
The present Kaiser Is said to affect the
violet, fancy which may clash with that Of
the Bonapartists, should the adherents of
the democratic empire" again come to the
front in France. A flower was, of course,
necessary TO the Boulangists, and, with
characteristics instinct for effect, the par
tisans OF tie "national and honest re-
public" have chosen the carnation. Never
theless, the origin Of the symbol does not
matter, except from historical point Of
view. The mysteries of this form OF
heraldry ara generally beyond finding out,
and not infrequently are better left unex-
oF