Literary notes about flora (AI summary)
In literature, the word "flora" functions with notable versatility, serving both as a literal reference to plant life and as a personified or symbolic element within narrative. In some works, it is used in a naturalistic or scientific context to denote specific vegetation or the botanical makeup of a region—as seen in the discussions of native or ancient plant life ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5])—while in other texts it takes on a more personal role, often as a feminine name that evokes classical associations with beauty, rebirth, and natural order ([6], [7], [8]). Additionally, "Flora" appears as a character in various genres, ranging from subtle narrative presences in mysteries and social tales ([9], [10], [11], [12]) to allegorical functions in historical and satirical passages ([13], [14], [15]). This dual application enriches the literary landscape, allowing the term to simultaneously evoke the richness of nature and a nuanced, person-centered significance.
- So it is with the other animals, and with nearly all the plants, as shown by Dr. Hooker in his admirable memoir on the Flora of this archipelago.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - on relations of flora of South America, 379. on flora of the Antarctic lands, 381, 399.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - On the mountains of Abyssinia, several European forms and some few representatives of the peculiar flora of the Cape of Good Hope occur.
— from On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin - The deficiency of wild flowers found there is in part made up by the presence of sphagnum bogs with a typical fauna and flora of their own.
— from Glacier National Park [Montana] by United States. Department of the Interior - In Delile's Flora Ægyptiaca, the name of ghásool is given to the mesembryanthemum nodiflorum, class icosandria, order pentagynia.
— from The Thousand and One Nights, Vol. I. - Zephyrus was united to Chloris (Flora), the goddess of flowers.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens - Flora, who typified the season of Spring, is generally represented as a lovely maiden, garlanded with flowers.
— from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens - Ovid , Fasti , v. 237-254 , H. 2 illa , i.e. Flora , the Roman goddess of Flowers and Spring.
— from Helps to Latin Translation at Sight by Edmund Luce - “I do not think Flora would hurt a fly.”
— from Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - He did stand there!—but high up, beyond the lawn and at the very top of the tower to which, on that first morning, little Flora had conducted me.
— from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - I forget what I was on the present occasion; I only remember that I was something very important and very quiet and that Flora was playing very hard.
— from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - "I think it would be worth while," Flora went on, "to have this old gentleman to dinner.
— from Swann's Way by Marcel Proust - In a period of embarrassment, the first thing which does not sell is a Flora.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - For this purpose he had pawned his copperplates of the Flora .
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - The pawnshop had sold the plates of his Flora after the expiration of thirteen months.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo