#it doesnt concern itself with any real properties plants have! why do marigolds mean contempt when this plant has been valued for its

[bookshelfdreams]

meaningless arbitrary pet peeve of the day: I hate """victorian flower language"""

it's largely completely arbitrary & disconnected from the cultural significance plants and flowers have due to their use in folk medicine and/or folk magic, it's just what some 19th century dipshit came up with one day, and like many things 19th century dipshits came up with, it has completely permeated the collective consciousness and now we think x flower has to symbolize y thing, look, it says so in this infographic about the language of flowers! as if this were in any way objective

anyway a bouquet of foxglove and lily-of-the-valley doesn't mean "my heart is withering in loneliness but I am rooting for your success" or whatever contrived bullshit, it's a barely concealed death threat

#sorry this is something that annoys me to no end for no good reason #people in the 19th century had mostly dumb ideas and the ~~secret flower language is one of them #it doesnt concern itself with any real properties plants have! why do marigolds mean contempt when this plant has been valued for its #medicinal uses since antiquity #lavender - repellent of pests and dark magic soothing and aiding in good sleep means acknowledgement? why? fuck off #birch - a symbol for protection from evil rebirth and spring since forever! gracefulness? honestly what tf is wrong with you #WILLOW one of the more effective natural painkillers thats not an opioid and also incredibly useful source of bast fibres #& im supposed to believe it means forsaken??? here chew on this cactus that means respect and adoration <3 #fucking clowns #thoughts