I was digging about in the Unix system directories on MacOS X today (actually, searching for ‘joe’ which I thought I had installed, but is nowhere to be found) and stumbled upon the directory /usr/share/misc . Within this folder is the file flowers which is a listing of flowers and their meanings. I don’t know if it is actually referenced by any command; my guess is that a Berkeley programmer got bored and decided to put in an interesting, if not entirely useful in an OS environment, text file.



# Flower : Meaning

# @(#)flowers 8.1 (Berkeley) 6/8/93

#

# Upside down reverses the meaning.

African violet:Such worth is rare.

Apple blossom:Preference.

Bachelor's button:Celibacy.

Bay leaf:I change but in death.

Camelia:Reflected loveliness.

Chrysanthemum, other color:Slighted love.

Chrysanthemum, red:I love.

Chrysanthemum, white:Truth.

Clover:Be mine.

and so on