A Spring Bouquet for you made up of nothing but flowers with Latin roots!

Read our Introduction to this project.

  • salvia ~ helpul ~ My flower is salvia, from the Latin salvus meaning healthy. It's also the genus of sage, which really was used for medicinal purposes.

  • gladiolus~Stigler ~ My flower is the gladiolus from the Latin 'gladius' meaning 'sword' relating to the leaf shape.

  • xiphum iris ~Evelyn133 ~ My flower is xiphium iris - bulbous iris of Western Mediterranean region having usually violet-purple flowers. Plants have sword shaped leaves and erect stalks.

  • Dodecatheon clevelandii: Primrose ~normlet3 ~ Dodecatheon clevelandii ssp. clevelandii Shooting Star Primulaceae (Primrose Family)

  • Iceland Poppy ~Quisquam ~ My flower is Papaver nudicaule, the Iceland Poppy. The Papaver genus was mentioned by Virgil, probably in the Georgics.

  • rhododendron ~Maui Kate ~ I picked a rhododendron for the bouquet. We have LOTS of them here!! It comes from:

  • columbines!wa yward ~ columbines - ME French columbine from Med.Latin:'columbina - a dove.' So called from the resemblance of the inverted flower to five pigeons clustered together. Known in New Zealand as 'aquilegias' - from med.Latin origin unknown. Or it's common name, rarely used nowadays of 'granny bonnets'.

  • acanthus, gladioli, crocus, impatiens, rosemary~ Pete7268 ~ Acanthus from acanthus, i. masc. Bears Breech. funny thing to have in a bouquet but the Romans liked the leaves as decoration.---- Gladioli from gladius, gladi gladii masc. Sword. Crocus - croce us yellow, saffron. ---Impatiens (busy Lizzie) - impatiens, impatientis, impatient. Rosemary - ros, roris dew, moisture, water. ~ marinus adj of the sea.

  • campanula, Lily of the Valley, aquilegia, nasturtium, ~ Maryemm ~ CAMPANULA (little bells) from "campana", bell.---- CONVALLARIA (Lily of the Valley) from "convallium", a valley.----AQUILEGIA hopefully from "aquila", eagle.----and (I can`t resist these) even though they are not everyone`s cup of tea: NASTURTIUM from "nasus", nose and "torquere", to twist.Most people wrinkle their noses when they smell Nasturtium.

  • passion flower, hyacinth, honeysuckle~ Teacup Fran ~ Passiflora cerulea (the passion flower); Hyacinthus elatus (the hyacinth) and some Lanicera cprifolium (honeysuckle) for aroma

  • Iris, rose, lily ~sandyrose ~ Iris--iris,iridis Female messenger of the gods and goddess of the rainbow; Rose--rosa, rosae, female, roseus a, um made of roses; mea rosa: my rosebud (term of endearment); lily--lilium

  • peony, hibiscus, chrysanthemum ~ buddytheclock ~ peony: paeonia;---- hibuscus: hibuscum, us; and a fall flower chrysanthemum: chrysanthemon.

  • rose, iris~ Vouzon LC ~ ROSE. rose O.E. from L. rosa, It. Sp. rosa, Fr. rose, also source of Du. roos, Ger. rose, Swed. rose etc. Probably fr It. and Gk dialects from Gk rhodon "rose", ult. fr. Pers vida. -----"The rose was a special growth of Macddonia and the Thracian region as well as Persia, and the Latin and Greek names probably come from a Thraco Phyrgian source." Tucker --IRIS iris "prismatic rock crystal" fr. Latin iris (pl.irides) "iris of the eye", iris plant rainbow fr. Gk iris, a lily, iris of the eye (originally) messenger of the gods, personified as a rainbow.

  • telopea, banksia spinulosa ~ amparo ~One of the flowers I have nominated, "telopea", here in Australia is commonly known as "waratah" and it is the flower emblem of NSW (Sydney). I have sent Ginny photos of the Australian natives flowers "Telopea Speciosissima" and "Banksia spinulosa/ericifolia". for Monday's flower basket.

  • aquilegifolius, columbines, calceolatus, crocus, amellus, quince ~ Mippy ~ Aquilegifolius Latin derivation: not only folius, leaves, but notably from aquilia, eagle (textbook, p. 50). Columbine is the English name My source, Gardener's Latin by B. Neal says: Columbines take their name from the shape of the petals, which resemble an eagle... leaves are tripartite ... and according to herbals, "used with good success for sore throats." Here's one for Ginny, since it often lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains: Cypripedium calceolatus, yellow lady's slipper calceolatus, shaped like a shoe, according to the ref. above cypri, is not the same yellow as our text, p. 51, croceam, which sounds to me like it refers to the yellow Crocus, another spring flower. also, pedium refers to foot. ~ Amelloides, Meadow stars, or amellus----Virgil (in translation) wrote: There is also a meadow-flower that farmers call Amellus ... with a mass of stems; the disc itself is golden, but in the abundant petals round about, crimson is shot with violet." Source: Gardener's Latin, B. Neal----Another plant with a Roman connection: Oblongus Cydonia oblonga, the common quince Flowers and branches are used to decorate tables and rooms. The fruit, picked green, then ripened in honey, was served at Roman wedding feasts (same source as above).

  • Yoshino cherry, Kwanzan cherry ~ JoanK ~ The cherry blossoms that you see in pictures of DC are mostly YOSHINO CHERRY (Prunus x yedoensis) -- wonder what that x is about. It is a lovely shaped tree with pale pink flowers -- The street where I live is lined with another variety. I think it's: KWANZAN CHERRY (Prunus serrulata 'Kwanzan').

  • lily, lavendula, calendula, cosmos, daffodil, aster, cactus, crocus, heliotrope, hyacinth, alyssum, geranium, nasturtium, petunia ~ Edith Anne ~ lily Latin lilium ; Lavender - lavendula; Calendula - calendae; Cosmos - cosmos; Daffodil - asphodelus; Aster - aster; Cactus - cactus; Crocus - crocus;--Heliotrope - heliotropium; ----Hyacinth - hyacinthus; Immortelle (strawflower) - immortalis; ---Alyssum - Alyssum; ----Geranium - geranium; ----Nasturtium - nasturtium (nasus - nose + torquere twist, (from its pungent odor.) ----Narcissus - narcissus;----Petunia - petunia

  • rose, impatiens, hibiscus, chamomile, salvia, pansy ~ PNemeth ~ Rose, from the Latin, Rosa----Impatiens, from L impatient---Hibiscus - hibiscus---Chamomile- chamaemelon----Salvia - salvia -- Pansy is from the Latin, pensare, to ponder. "Viola wittrockiana".

  • dahlia, violet, peony, ~Athena2 ~ DAHLIA: New Latin Dahlia,----VIOLET: [Middle English, from Old French violete, diminutive of viole] From Latin viola. ----peooony P ) Paeonia [Middle English pione, from Old English p onie, and Anglo-Norman peonie both from Medieval Latin pe nia, from Latin pae nia, from Greek pai ni , perhaps from Pai n, Apollo, physician of the gods.]