All about flowers and gifts

In Roman times rose petals were used to flavor cooked brains, sweet marjoram flowers were baked in hash, and safflower petals were used for a boiled sauce.

Roses and violets were added to wine to enhance flavor. Later, in the Middle Ages, rose petals were used to flavor cakes, creams, and confectionery. Both orange blossom and rose petal water are flavorings made from flowers. Since the third and fourth centuries C.E., rose water has been made by steeping petals and then distilling the water.

Middle Eastern and Indian sweets such as shola, baklava, firni, and halvah are flavored with rose water. It is also used to flavor Middle Eastern beverages such as lassi and sherbet. Flower use varies from culture to culture and age to age.

While in America today roses are used more as a decoration than a flavoring, dried rosebuds are used as a condiment in Asian cookery. But in addition to their symbolic, cooking and spiritual uses, flowers are consumed for their healing properties.

Flowers from the great scarlet poppy contain alkaloids such as thebaine, which is a source of codeine. The unripe pods of opium poppies are used to make many alkaloids including morphine, thebaine, narcotine, and codeine.

The list of flowers used as medicine is extensive, and it includes arnica used as an anti-inflammatory analgesic and hawthorn used as an antispasmodic, cardiac, and vasodilator. The marsh mallow is a diuretic, antitussive, and demulcent.

Passionflowers are a sedative. Rosemary is used as a tonic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, and astringent. And finally, due to their astringent qualities, some flowers, including nasturtiums, roses, and yarrow, are used as bath oils.

But in addition to their symbolic and spiritual uses, flowers are consumed for their healing properties. Flowers from the great scarlet poppy contain alkaloids such as the baine, which is a source of codeine. The unripe pods of opium poppies are used to make many alkaloids including morphine, thebaine, narcotine, and codeine.

The list of flowers used as medicine is extensive, and it includes arnica used as an anti-inflammatory analgesic and hawthorn used as an antispasmodic, cardiac, and vasodilator. The marsh mallow is a diuretic, antitussive, and demulcent. Passion flowers are a sedative. Rosemary is used as a tonic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, and astringent. And finally, due to their astringent qualities, some flowers, including nasturtiums, roses, and yarrow, are used as bath oils.

Flowers are a symbol of life and a source of birth. For example, when placed on a wedding cake flowers signify new life, and at times of sickness and death they comfort the grieving.

During the Easter season the passion flower is a symbol of the holy passion, the suffering of Jesus Christ.

In ancient Greece the rose symbolized love, beauty, and happiness, and during the Roman era, roses were associated with Venus, the goddess of love. Edible flowers are used with various foods to mark events such as graduation, marriage, and retirement.

Christians associate flowers with Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Epiphany. States and nations have adopted flowers as emblems. For example, the emblem of the Netherlands is the edible tulip, and Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin have adopted the violet as their state flower. Four states—Georgia, Iowa, New York, and North Dakota—have adopted roses. Florida adopted the orange blossom, and Hawaii the hibiscus.

Floral symbolism became very popular in England during the Victorian period. It was a way to assign meaning to an object that was both secretive and creative. Indeed, an entire language of floral symbolism sprung up. This language was adopted from a Turkish one, and became known colloquially as sending a “Persian Selam.”

 So, flowers always something symbolized and you can voluntarily or not express your feelings when present your bouquet.