100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names
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From baby blue eyes to silver bells, from abelia to zinnia, every flower tells a story. Gardening writer and historian Diana Wells knows them all. Here she presents one hundred well-known garden favorites and the not-so-well-known stories behind their names. Not for gardeners only, these flower stories tell of human striving - stories of ambitious explorers, clever hucksters, arbitrary monarchs, and patient scientists.
To compile 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names, Diana Wells delved deep into horticultural history, etymology, and lore to uncover myths, legends, folk beliefs, and stories of the intrepid botanists who searched the world's far corners for new and unusual flowers.
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Looking back on it now, I had thought there would be funny little stories behind how these flowers got their common names (forget-me-not: imagine the possibilities!). Turns out most of them are just named after a botanist, a friend/family member of a botanist, or someone with whom the botanist was trying to curry favor.
A tidy little book, essentially a collection of small, 2-pagers for each flower, much of it about when they were first "discovered" by W. European explorers or missionaries, and introduced to W. Europe. I was hoping for something that maybe incorporated a bit more of a plant's etymology by way of folklore -- nevertheless, a nice appetizer for someone who likes history, plants, and historical fun facts about plants. Also, bibliography section is excellent.
