Flowers have shaped politics less as forces that change events than as visible signs of belonging, advocacy, resistance, and remembrance. A rose could distinguish rival factions; a sunflower or lapel pin could make suffrage supporters recognizable; and a poppy could turn private grief into public commemoration. What each flower meant depended on its place, time, and audience.
How flowers became political signs
Flowers are easy to wear, carry, display, or leave at a memorial. That made them useful public symbols: a small badge or bouquet could signal allegiance without a speech. Their meanings were not universal, however. A flower might identify a campaign in one place, mark opposition in another, or express remembrance decades later.
The historical examples below show flowers working as political language—tools for signaling identity and preserving memory. The evidence documents their use and the meanings attached to them; it does not establish that flowers independently caused a conflict, secured a vote, or changed policy.
What did the red and white roses mean in the Wars of the Roses?
The familiar association is a red rose with the House of Lancaster and a white rose with the House of York, the rival dynastic camps remembered through the Wars of the Roses in England. The Australian War Memorial summarizes this emblematic pairing in its discussion of flowers and wartime visual culture: War, flowers, and visual culture.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors#1 Best Overall
These roses are best understood as shorthand for political identities attached to rival claims to the throne, not as the cause of the conflict. The conventional association is clearer in the accessible evidence than the precise chronology or political force of each badge, so it should not be treated as a complete account of how the symbols were used at the time.
Why did suffragists wear yellow flowers?
The sunflower and Kansas campaign
In 1867, Kansas suffragists adopted their state flower, the sunflower, as a campaign emblem. Its gold color helped connect yellow and gold with the wider US suffrage movement. The National Park Service traces that history in Symbols of the Women’s Suffrage Movement; the Library of Congress also documents the sunflower’s place among distinct state and local campaign symbols in Symbolism in the Women’s Suffrage Movement.
Yellow was not a single, centrally assigned emblem for every US organization. Maine suffragists, for example, used golden jonquils or daffodils. Campaigners wore small flowers in lapels or carried them in bouquets at public events, making the symbols visible to crowds.
Rank #2
Rose pins in Tennessee, 1920
During Tennessee’s debate over ratifying the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920, suffragists wore yellow rose-shaped pins and anti-suffragists wore red ones to show which side they supported, according to the National Park Service. A pin made political alignment legible at a glance, particularly in a closely watched public campaign.
Anti-suffrage colors also shifted over time. The National Park Service’s account of the movement at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site says pink was used before red became dominant in August 1915, in association with a song called “The Anti-Suffrage Rose”: The Fight for Women’s Suffrage. This chronology, alongside the local variation documented by the Library of Congress, cautions against treating every suffrage group as if it shared one fixed color code.
Colors as organizational identity
In Britain, the Women’s Social and Political Union used purple, white, and green, with meanings attached to each color. US organizations used several combinations. The Library of Congress explicitly notes that the National American Woman Suffrage Association did not have official colors, even though particular colors and flowers became familiar in campaigning.
Rank #3
A 1913 National Woman’s Party newsletter explained its palette this way: “Purple is the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, unswerving steadfastness to a cause.” It continued: “White, the emblem of purity, symbolizes the quality of our purpose; and gold, the color of light and life, is as the torch that guides our purpose, pure and unswerving.” The National Park Service reproduces the statement in its account of suffrage symbols. The words show how campaigners themselves framed their colors, rather than proving that the colors had the same meaning for every supporter.
Why is the poppy associated with remembrance?
The poppy became a public remembrance symbol after the First World War. Veterans Affairs Canada reports that Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields” in spring 1915 at the Second Battle of Ypres. Hand-made poppies were offered for sale in 1920, and the Great War Veterans’ Association adopted the poppy as its Flower of Remembrance in July 1921. Proceeds benefited wounded veterans. The department says people in Canada and elsewhere continue to wear poppies as signs of respect and thanks: Flower Symbolism.
In Canada, the poppy thus joined commemoration with support for veterans. The Australian War Memorial also notes that artificial poppies were worn on Armistice Day from the 1920s to honor the dead and raise welfare funds. These practices show how a flower can become a repeated public ritual, though the specific conventions differ between countries and communities.
Rank #4
How flowers also expressed resistance and solidarity
Daisies as reminders of Dutch identity
Veterans Affairs Canada describes Dutch refugees wearing daisies, encouraged by Queen Wilhelmina, as reminders of their nationality and resistance during occupation. In this setting, the flower marked identity and defiance within a displaced community; it was not the same kind of public campaign badge as a suffrage pin.
Tulips as gratitude between the Netherlands and Canada
In 1945, Princess Juliana gave Canada 100,000 tulip bulbs as a gesture of gratitude. The gift linked a flower to a specific diplomatic relationship and expression of thanks, rather than to a broad political movement. Veterans Affairs Canada also describes an annual gift of 20,000 bulbs in its account of this connection; those quantities refer to the Dutch-Canadian tradition, not to a measure of political influence.
Rosemary on ANZAC Day
In Australia, rosemary sprigs are worn on ANZAC Day in remembrance. The practice, also documented by Veterans Affairs Canada, illustrates how a familiar plant can carry commemorative meaning within a particular national observance. It should not be assumed to represent a universal remembrance custom.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Best Value
What these examples show—and what they do not
Across these cases, flowers served different political functions: identifying dynastic factions, distinguishing campaign supporters and opponents, affirming national identity, expressing gratitude, and commemorating service and loss. Their form mattered too: a heraldic association, a lapel pin, a bouquet, a wreath, or a fundraising object could reach different audiences in different ways.
The common thread is visibility and shared meaning. Flowers helped people recognize a group or participate in a ritual, but the historical accounts cited here do not quantify their effect or show that floral symbols alone produced political outcomes. Their importance lies in how people used them to make allegiance, memory, and solidarity public.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
