Barely the size of a fingernail, in a range of sky blues, pale purples, and whites, these flowers can cover most of your fable cravings with the stories of their naming. Throughout time, these gentle clusters have developed past being just a flower, sparking many ideas amongst the art community through poems, artworks, songs, and much more.

As far as I can tell, the legend that started it all came from medieval Germany. In it, a knight and his beloved are walking along a river when the knight notices the flowers on the bank. As he goes to pick them he slips and falls into the water. Quickly realizing his armor is too heavy, he calls out to his beloved to “Forget me not” and sinks to the bottom. In other versions from France and other parts of Germany the knight spots the flowers on the other side of the river and jumps in to go grab them but gets swept away by a current, the rest of the legend stays the same.

Greece and Germany share another version of the legend. Rather than a knight and his beloved, all of the flowers have gathered to be named. In the German tale, God is naming everything. (In the Greek version, replace God with Zeus.) As he gets close to finishing the naming of all flowers, the small clusters cry out, “Forget me not!” Upon hearing its words and realizing he had almost forgotten them, he decided that shall be its name.

With each tale, a couple of common themes can be spotted: remembrance and love. Each of them have someone or something calling out not to be forgotten, whether it’s between couples, families, or friends. With the symbolism of eternal love and memory, why not give a bouquet to someone you want to know will stay in your heart and mind for all eternity?

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