Flowers in Resistance Floriography
Flowers are a bit of a luxury in the cities, but the pop color and the brief relief to the city's smell a bouquet provides make them a welcome sight. Anyone blessed with a green thumb and access to enough water is wise to grow what they can for sale, so small stands of flowers dot the streets. But the ephemeral nature of a cut flower provides an even more valuable resource to those who need to discreetly communicate in the open. For some resistance groups, the flowers are most useful as coded messages to be deciphered through floriography.
History & Usage
History
An up-swell of interest in all things symbolic led to an increase of flowers brought in to the cities. Clubs and secret societies quickly iterated off of existing forms of floriography, refining the dream-logic of flower symbolism into codified language. The presence and arrangement of flowers could be used in multiple ways: flower shops owned by fellow members of underground organizations could broadcast long-term messages as potted artworks, while messages could be delivered as bouquets if sensitive information needed to be destroyed easily upon receipt.
Cultural Significance and Usage
One of the additional benefits of floriography is the ability to communicate between social strata without detection. Suspicion would be raised if a high-society person were seen delivering letters to the slums, or if trips were made to the dregs of the city, but no one would think twice about a flower delivery to a noble, or a flower tossed out a carriage window.
Environmental Impact
Unlike so many things made in the wake of the industrial revolution, floriography has a net benefit on the environment, tiny though it may be.
Reusability & Recycling
Discarded flowers can be burnt in boilers for heat and power, or fed to pigs and rabbits- common food sources for people.
Type
Biomaterial
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