Customer Reviews

Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees (Dover Pictorial Archive)

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Obviously much time and effort went into researching this book, Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees. Excellent line drawings and b/w illustrations used appropriately. Includes European and Asian sources of information and illustrations. Quotes and all illustrations are excerpted from early printed sources - some dating back to 13th century.

Great layout design of text and illustrations. Text is concise yet informative on specific topics. An easy-to-use book!

*Table of Contents:

1) Sacred plants (including trees of life & knowledge) and specific plants;

2) Flower lore and legend (alphabetized by common flower & tree names)

3) Strange and wondrous plants (ex: Apple of Sodom, Ice plant, and Tree of Sorrow)

4) Flower Calendar - seasons, flowers of the month, both Chinese & Japanese flower calendars

5) Language of Flowers - Sentiments and symbolism

A good general background source book for those interested in folklore or historical "roots" of common and less common plants meanings. A basic source book for all who enjoy nature hikes and telling stories about plants along the way. Not only do readers learn more about their ancestors' views and beliefs of specific plants but also a new way of seeing the natural world around us.

My concentration for my major is ethnobotany, and this is a definite must-have addition to my collection! THe illustrations are wonderful! Each section done has at least one illustration and a good paragraph explaining its origins. I particularly enjoy the seasons section, as well as the chinese flower calendar and the japanese flower calendar. There is also a shortened "sentiments and symbolism" in the back, similar to a glossary, with basic meanings of every plant in the book. It is organized well, and very informative.

Excellent resource for information, but not complete. It has limited lists of flowers and their meaning, but gives a great history of where those things come from.

I liked the references to old sources, the old and fanciful drawings, and the inclusion of mythical plants. Traditional medicinal and magical uses are mentioned as well.

On the other hand, a sprinkling of punctuation and minor spelling errors made me wonder what else might not be quite right. For example, when they say Juno was associated with the moon, was that something I forgot about, something missed by everything else I've read about Greek and Roman mythology, something their source claimed erroneously, or their own mistake?

Overall an interesting little book.

This is a fun book which possesses interesting facts, but I wish it had been thicker and included more of the same. What it does do, though, is provide interesting facts regarding old superstions regarding plants along with information regarding things like which plants traditionally symbolize which months.

One rather disappointing fact: some things which I knew on my own were not mentioned: for instance mandrake was in fact used as a fertility drug but it is also (in reality) an effective poison. (It has no real usefulness regarding fertility.) Opium was left out of the book entirely even though as far back as the Romans it was used as a pain killer; it was imported from India.

Things like that were left out and that was what I found least satisfying about the book.