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England
St. George
and the Rose
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The national flower of England is the rose.
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The flower has been adopted as England’s emblem since the
time of the Wars of the Roses - civil wars (1455-1485) between the royal
house of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal house of York
(whose emblem was a white rose).
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Scotland
St Andrew
and the Scottish Bluebell
The national flower of Scotland is
the thistle,
a prickly-leaved purple flower which was first used in the 15th century as a
symbol of defence. |
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Wales
St David
and the Daffodil
The national flower of Wales is the daffodil,
which is traditionally worn on St. David’s Day. The vegetable
called
leek
is also considered to be a traditional emblem of Wales.
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There are many explanations of how the leek came to be
adopted as the national emblem of Wales.
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One is that St David advised the
Welsh, on the eve of battle with the Saxons, to wear leeks in their caps to
distinguish friend from foe.
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As Shakespeare records in Henry V, the Welsh
archers wore leeks at the battle of Agincourt in 1415.
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Northern Ireland
St. Patrick
and the Shamrock
The national flower of Northern Ireland is the shamrock,
a three-leaved plant similar to clover. An Irish tale tells
of how Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to explain the Trinity. He
used it in his sermons to represent how the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity. His
followers adopted the custom of wearing a shamrock on his feast day.
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