Floriography, also called the language of flowers, has been a means of cryptological communication for centuries. Through arrangements of specific flowers, coded messages could be delivered to recipients. Plants have therefore represented metaphors for virtue or vice. The origins of plant symbolism can be attributed to the literature of antiquity, religious writings, and the documented study of medieval herbology. The Bible includes many instances where trees, fruits, or flowers lend themselves to sacred allegories. Many devout writers and artists from the medieval period through the Renaissance used floriography as a means to explain and interpret religious beliefs. The seventh-century English Benedictine monk Bede the Venerable likened the Virgin Mary to the lily by describing “the white petals signifying [her] bodily purity, the golden anthers the glowing light of her soul.” Therefore the lily flower has become a symbol of purity and humility. The use of botanical imagery flourished in the …