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''The Briar and the Rose.''|"The Briar and the Rose", '''Tom Waits'''}}
Flowers are one of the most popular [[
In the West, the popularity of flowers as motifs is probably rooted (no pun intended) in floriography - a Victorian practice where particular types of flowers meant different things. A woman rejecting a suitor might send him yellow roses; a man leaving for overseas might give his girlfriend forget-me-nots. Most people remember that red roses mean "I love you," but floriography itself has been largely forgotten. It occasionally turns up in literature, but since it takes time to explain the meanings of flowers, requiring someone to be [[Mr. Exposition]] if the flower is obscure, it's largely omitted from television and film. Additionally, gardening as a hobby has declined in modern times: many see the garden not as a place for flowers, but as an additional "room", more likely to feature a swimming pool or a swing set than a flower bed.
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]],'' the characters couldn't go anywhere without coming across a rose. The rings that signified the duelists sported a rose crest, Ohtori's gate had a huge rose design on top of it, each duelist had a rose of their signature color as a target when they fought, and a group of antagonists were called the Black Rose duelists, to name but a few. In the movie, they up the ante, and the famous "dance in the rose garden" shows an Ohtori ''drowning'' in roses. Just to drive the point home, the [[Meaningful Name]]s backed up the imagery: "Utena" and "Anthy" mean "calyx" and "flower," respectively.
** The [[
*** For what it's worth, green roses mean "I am from Mars" in Western floriography (which does not match Japanese floriography). This is probably not the meaning intended here. They do exist, as a mutant form that has extra sepals instead of petals.
* ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' had a field day with this. Looking at the characters' [[Theme Naming|flower names]], their favorite flowers, and the flowers that show up around them give big clues to their characters. For example, Sonomi's favorite flower is nadeshiko; she adored Sakura's mother, whose name was Nadeshiko.
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* Many British murder mysteries make reference to flowers - Belladonna (deadly nightshade) is a favorite as a poison. ''Rosemary and Thyme'' takes this to the next level though. Not only are they named after herbs, but the contents of their garden often provide a clue to the murder...or at least serve as inspiration for the [[An Aesop|aesop]] at the end.
** [[Agatha Christie]] explicitly used floriography as major clues in some of her [[Miss Marple]] mysteries.
* ''[[Little Women]]'': While Laurie and Amy are taking a walk through a rose garden, Laurie gets pricked by a red rose he tried to pick while thinking of Jo, whom he last saw when she turned down his marriage proposal. Amy then gives him a thorn-free white rose. Laurie instantly thinks of the [[
* Parodied in the ''[[Discworld]]'' book ''Nanny Ogg's Cookbook'', where after discussing how a man was once sued for having an obscene garden, Nanny Ogg gives a list of "pretty flowers and their meanings". The list itself is not present, however, because Nanny Ogg being who she is, the publisher inserts a note declaring they've yanked the list for being overly suggestive. (Though [[Fridge Logic|considering]] ALL flowers are plant reproductive organs, Nanny may have had a point...)
** Note that the above is actually [[Truth in Television]]: the founder of the Hellfire Club, Sir Francis Dashwood, landscaped his garden in such a way that, from the church on the hill, it would look like a naked woman.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Motifs]]
[[Category:Flower Motifs]]▼
[[Category:Floral Tropes]]
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