Fleur de Louis...
Scientific name: Iris pseudacorus. English: Yellow iris, or Water-flag.French: Iris sauvage.German: Gelbe Schwertlilie.Dutch: Gele lis.Belongs to the family of the IRIDACEAE. Grows in humid places: marshes, rivers banks…I remember a drawing from the book of French History of my childhood.Showing king Philippe-Auguste (1165-1223) caracoling on his ceremonial horse covered with a blue cloth dressed with golden “Fleurs de Lis” (Lily flowers).These ornaments don’t really look like lily flowers. Even considering stylizing.They rather look like yellow iris ones, just a bit modified by the “designers” of that time.And that’s actually what they are…The French kings were descended from Frankish tribes from the banks of the Ijssel river, an arm of the Rhine’s delta. A region of marshes where the most majestic flower was the great water-flag... A logical emblem for the chief of the tribe.So, why...
