"The sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she did when he rose."
Such a flower, writes Mr. Ellacombe, was to old writers "the emblem
of constancy in affection and sympathy in joy and sorrow," though it was
also the emblem of the fawning courtier, who can only shine when
everything is right. Anyhow, the so-called heliotrope was the subject of
constant symbolic allusion:--
"The flower, enamoured of the sun,
At his departure hangs her head and weeps,
And shrouds her sweetness up, and keeps
Sad vigils, like a cloistered nun,
Till his reviving ray appears,
Waking her beauty as he dries her tears." [5]
The aspen, from its tremulous motion, has been made symbolical of
fear. The restless movement of its leaves is "produced by the peculiar
form of the foot-stalks, and, indeed, in some degree, the whole tribe of
poplars are subject to have their leaves agitated by the slightest
breeze."[6] Another meaning assigned to the aspen in floral language is
scandal, from an old saying which affirmed that its tears were made
from women's tongues--an allusion to which is made in the subjoined
rhyme by P. Hannay in the year 1622:--
"The quaking aspen, light and thin,
To the air quick passage gives;
Resembling still
The trembling ill
Of tongues of womankind,
Which never rest,
But still are prest
To wave with every wind."
The almond, again, is regarded as expressive of haste, in reference to
its hasty growth and early maturity; while the evening primrose, from
the time of its blossoms expanding, indicates silent love—refraining from
unclosing "her cup of paly gold until her lowly sisters are rocked into a
balmy slumber." The bramble, from its manner of growth, has been
chosen as the type of lowliness; and "from the fierceness with which it
grasps the passer-by with its straggling prickly stems, as an emblem of
remorse."