Variety of Flowers

There are thousands of known kinds of flowers on earth. They range in size from water blossoms so small they can be seen only with a microscope, to tropical flowers that are three feet wide. Some kinds of flowers have petals. Others look like stars, saucers or balloons. Some even have shapes that resemble insects, spiders or birds. Many flowers have smells that attract the birds or insects that help fertilize them. Man depends completely on flowers and flowering plants for his food. Flowering plants include almost all grains, fruits and vegetables. Even the animals that man uses for food, such as cattle, hogs and sheep, live on flowering plants

Flowers Through the Ages Appreciation for flowers is one thing that ancient man and modern man have had in common. The Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Medes and the Persians were ingenious in their decorative use of flowers. Their parks were magnificently designed and their feast and banquet tables were often decorated with awe-inspiring miniature gardens. According to an inscription, King Rameses III of Egypt donated no less than 500 gardens and 19 million bouquets of flowers in honor of the god Amon! When Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, the ancient art of floral decoration began to show its influence in Rome. In Neros courts it was customary to escort the guests inside at great banquets over a carpet of flower petals and offer them a wreath of roses as well, which, when laid upon the head, had a cooling effect. Some of the most artistic forms of floral decorations have come to modern man from Japan. The ability and skill of the Japanese in this field are closely associated with the deep-seated love they have for the earth.