Patterns & Metaphors
Phytomorphic symbols
Other Names:
Fruits and flowers
Vegetation
Metaphor:
The organic world or vegetable kingdom is the source of mankind's life as well as its environment, therefore symbology from this realm is profuse. Broadly, this class of symbolic objects includes plants and trees predominantly, and parts of these, notably flowers and fruits. In the case of plants generally, it includes roots, shoots, stalks, leaves, and seed-pods; and of grains, the corn or ear. Grasses, vines and bushes are other vegetation that appears in symbology. Another kind of vegetative symbol is the growth stage: seed, seedling or sprout, pod, mature plant, etc; and another is vegetation in the aggregate: jungle, bush, forest, timber wood, grove, stand, orchard, etc, applying to trees; and crop and harvest applying to farm, vineyard or orchard production. Some forms and quantities of packing are also symbolic, as bales (hay, cotton) and barrels, bushels, etc. The anatomy of flora gives other symbology, for example, peel, core, kernel, nut and stem. The taste qualities; sourness, sweetness and spiciness, are symbolized by some fruits and vegetables, for example, by lemons, melons and peppers. There are said to be languages of symbolism provided by some fifteen to twenty kinds of trees, and by a similar number of flowers.<
