In the sixteenth pilgrims traveled around Europe and Greece in search of the ‘plants of the ancients’. It was at this time the European plant world began to change with the introduction of oriental bulbs. At this time the science of botany also broke away from medicine, to which it had long been subordinate. New flowers were introduced to the public in countless books. Roman Poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses enjoyed a revival success at this time. Its poetic narrative echoed a period of massive change when people were called upon to prove their flexibility. This was the age of the Reformation and Counter Reformation when, in the view of the Jesuits, God’s character and wishes were manifested in his creation and his will revealed in the magnitude of nature. Every flower contained a hidden message an attentive observer could interpret. The rose exuded the sweet perfume of virtue, the blue hyacinth encouraged meditation on God and Heaven while the crown imperial, that majestic of all flowers, reminded us of the futility of human power. A humble soul could draw a moral lesson from the violet, a simple flower that crowned Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love and protectress of flowers and gardens.

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