Friday, May 21, 2010

Does anyone know the meaning of a fern plant? What it is symbolic of?

Apparently the flag of New Zealand sports a silver fern. There's an interesting history of it here: http://www.nzflag.com/silverfern.cfm . And some controversy over the flag here: http://www.nzflag.com/press_050205southl... .





Because ferns are extremely hardy and reproduce using spores (they do not require either seeds or outside pollination to reproduce), it seems they have become symbols of independence, perseverance, autonomy, endurance, defiance in the face of oppression, and resourcefulness.





There are other different and rather unrelated fern symbolisms in different contexts. Apparently in the wedding bouquet they signal "fascination"; in the Victorian graveyard, they signalled "sincerity." Ferns aren't very "fascinating" to me, but whatever.


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