The poppy, from its somniferous effects, has been made symbolic of sleep and oblivion; hence Virgil calls it the Lethean poppy, whilst our old pastoral poet, William Browne, speaks of it as “sleep-bringing poppy.”  The heliotrope denotes devoted attachment, from its having been supposed to turn continually towards the sun; hence its name, signifying the sun and to turn.  The classic heliotrope must not be confounded with the well-known Peruvian heliotrope or “cherry-pie,” a plant with small lilac-blue blossoms of a delicious fragrance.  It would seem that many of the flowers which had the reputation of opening and shutting at the sun’s bidding were known as heliotropes, or sunflowers, or turnesol.  Shakespeare alludes to the,

  “Marigold, that goes to bed with the sun,
  And with him rises weeping.”

And Moore, describing its faithful constancy, says:—­

  “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.”

Fennel was in olden times generally considered an inflammatory herb, and hence to eat “conger and fennel” was to eat two high and hot things together, which was an act of libertinism.  Thus in “2 Henry IV.” (Act ii. sc. 4), Falstaff says of Poins, “He eats conger and fennel.”  Rosemary formerly had the reputation of strengthening the memory, and on this account was regarded as a symbol of remembrance.  Thus, according to an old ballad:—­