Pansy

"That's for thoughts"

Jun 13, 2024

Well, it sure has been a bit since my last flower talk. Let’s fix this by talking about the next flower Ophelia hands out, shall we?

According to Jessica Roux’s Floriography, pansy (viola tricolour var. hortensis), also known as “Johnny Jump Up, heartsease, tickle-my-fancy” and other names (Wikipedia) was given the meaning “You occupy my thoughts” during the Victorian times (Roux). Roux goes onto explain that the flower gets it’s name “from the French pensée, meaning “thought.” According to House Plant Central, many English botanists began crossing pansies “en masse” during the Victorian era, so much so that “by the year 1835, there were over 400 different pansies in existence” each with their own individual meaning (House Plant Central).

Another common meaning for pansies is “love,” particularly “forbidden love” in the Victorian era (House Plant Central) as well as “platonic love” according to Florgeous (Florgeous). The forbidden love meaning comes from it’s other name, heartsease, which comes from the Greek name for St. Euphrasia which means “cheerfulness of mind.” With it’s association of forbidden love, pansies were often hidden with other herbs in the bouquet where people of the time would have immediately understood the meaning.

Ancient Greeks and Celtics believed that pansies could be used in love potions. To make another Shakespearean connection, some scholars believe that the pansy may have been the flower used in the love potion of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In Hamlet, Pansies are the second flower that Ophelia hands out during her mad scene. Often she hands them to her brother Laertes alongside the rosemary, symbolizing thoughts and memory.

Pansies have also been used as a gift to express sympathy (House Plant Central). And like many flowers in Floriography, the meanings change based on the colour of the flower. So even though the pansy flower itself might mean “thoughts” or “occupying thoughts” that doesn’t mean it can’t mean more. House Plant Central gives some meanings for the variety of pansy colours:

Blue: loyalty, honesty, devotion

Purple: dignity, nobility, royalty

Yellow: happiness, joy, and positivity

Red: romance and love

White: innocence and purity

Pansies are also an edible flower and can be added to salads or candied and added to desserts.

What Else I’ve Been Doing:

Reading: Finished The Skull by Jon Klassen, Nobody Cares by Anne T Donahue, The Project by Courtney Summers. Currently reading Grey Dog by Elliot Gish.

Listening To: Fantasy Playlist and Chappell Roan

Watching: Season Two of Six Feet Under, Season Two of What We Do In the Shadows, One Pace (Whiskey Peak).