Floriography origins come from Constantinople the capital city of the Roman Empire (330-395) which in today's world is the European side of Istanbul.
There is a misconception that flowers always had meaning or symbolism and that everyone knew the "language of flowers" but that is not the case.
The meanings of flowers that we all know today are based on folklore, literature, mythology, religion and the biology of flowers.
Floriography was not introduced to Europe until the reign of Queen Victoria, which was the Victorian era 1837-1901.
It is said that Victorian lovers used flowers as a way of sending secret messages but there is not much evidence of that and the use of flowers as messages at the time was not common practice.
Although flowers did have sentiments, the meanings and symbolism of flowers varied by location.
The flower meanings we know today come from a Turkish book called Selam but the book was not about flower meanings at all it was about using flowers as objects for memory recognition.
The popularity of modern floriography was brought about by poets and writers of the 18th Century.
