Tulip slipped and leaved (Accepted)

The tulip is a cup-shaped flower originally from Persia, and brought to Europe in the 16^th Century; though it was cultivated in many countries, its strongest association is with Holland [EB XXVII:366].  Because of its late introduction to Europe, it’s not surprising that no examples of tulips have been found in period armory.

Like most cup-shaped flowers, the tulip is shown in profile by Society default.  The petals should be shown opened:  the use of the tulip bud, like the rose bud, is not permitted.  The illustration shows a tulip slipped and leaved; it’s taken from Conrad Gesner’s De Hortis Germaniae Liber Recens, 1561.  See also iris, lily.

Dai of the Tulips bears:  Argent, a tulip gules slipped and leaved vert.

Anna de Brabant bears:  Per saltire argent and Or, a tulip flower sable.

Beatrix van der See bears:  Per fess wavy vert and barry wavy argent and azure, in chief three tulips Or.

Trillium (Accepted)

The trillium is a flower native to North America, with three large white petals atop a whorl of three sepals (hence its name).  As a New World flower, the trillium’s use was long considered a step from period practice.  However, as its form is similar to the charge known as the tierce-feuille, in the arms of von Buderich, c.1370 [Gelre 93], the trillium is now accepted without stigma.

The trillium is shown affronty by default, with a petal to base; it has no proper tincture in Society armory.

The King of Ealdormere bears:  Gules, a trillium flower affronty argent, barbed vert, within a laurel wreath, in chief a coronet argent.

Seamus a’ Chnuic Ghuirm bears:  Argent, a trillium purpure barbed vert and seeded Or.

Lilion de Ardmacha bears:  Per bend argent and vert, two trilliums counterchanged.

Thistle (Period)

The thistle is a prickly flower with a poofy blossom; it is most strongly associated with Scotland.  Unlike most flowers, the thistle is shown in profile by default.  In Scots armory, the thistle’s “proper” coloration is with green ball, stem and leaves, and a red bloom; Society armory more frequently makes the bloom purple.  A crowned thistle, as the Royal badge of Scotland [HB 141], is not registerable in the Society.

The thistle is slipped and leaved by default, although this is frequently blazoned.  A “thistle head” is the ball and bloom alone, without the stem and leaves; we find an example of the charge in the Recueil d’armoiries peintes, a 15th Century roll of arms, in the attributed arms of Sir Griflet, Knight of the Round Table.

For related charges, see teazel.

Lorimar MacAltin of Garioch bears:  Azure, three thistles slipped and leaved argent.

Theresa de Foxton bears:  Per bend embattled sable and gules, a thistle slipped and leaved argent.

Malcolm of Strathavon bears:  Argent, five thistles, three and two, slipped and leaved vert.

Willoc mac Muiredaig bears:  Per pale vert and purpure all semy of thistle heads Or.

Teazel slipped and leaved (Period)

The teazel, or teasel, is a spiny flower used in dressing or fulling cloth; it is sometimes more fully blazoned a “fuller’s teazel” for that reason.  It is a period charge, found in the arms of the Worshipful Company of Fullers, 1510 (later incorporated into the Clothworkers, 1530) [Bromley & Child 48].  Unlike most flowers, the teazel is shown in profile by default.

The teazel could either be blazoned “slipped and leaved”, as shown as in the illustration; or only the head might be shown, blazoned a “teazel’s cob” or “teazel’s head”.  For related charges, see thistle.

Liadan Chu bears:  Argent, three teasels slipped and leaved vert, between two flaunches purpure each charged with a triquetra fesswise one point outward Or.

Anne la Trouvere bears:  Vert, a teazel slipped and leaved and on a chief Or three lozenges azure.

Beatrix Elizabeth de Lara bears:  Quarterly azure and argent, in bend sinister a teazel head and a Catherine’s wheel sable within a bordure counterchanged.

Rose (Period)

The rose is a beautiful flower, the most frequently used flower in heraldry.  It is also one of the oldest, dating from the earliest heraldry in the arms of Darcy, c.1255 [Asp2 137].  Its standard heraldic form is somewhat stylized:  shown affronty, with five petals separated by barbs, and central seeds.  The barbing and seeding may be of a different tincture than the rest of the rose; when blazoned “barbed and seeded proper”, the barbs are green, the seeds gold.  In Society heraldry, a “rose proper” is gules, barbed vert, seeded Or.

Early heralds made no distinction between heraldic roses and cinquefoils, considering both the blazons and emblazons interchangeable (as in the cadet arms of the Darcy family through the 14^th Century).  They are thus negligibly different in Society armory.  Period heraldry has rare instances of four-petaled or six-petaled roses (e.g., the arms of Rosenberger, 1605 [Siebmacher 215]); these variants are likewise negligibly different in Society armory, and indeed are often left unblazoned.

Roses may be slipped and leaved; the serrated leaves and thorny stems of nature are here employed.  Examples of roses slipped and leaved are more prevalent on the Continent than in England:  e.g., the arms of Güttingen, c.1340 [Zurich 55].  Note that “roses slipped and leaved” are distinguished, by blazon and heraldic difference, from “rose branches flowered”.

“Garden rose” slipped and leaved (SFPP); garden rosebud slipped and leaved (Disallowed)

For several years, Society blazons distinguished between the stylized rose of heraldry and the “garden rose”, depicted as found in nature:  seen in side view, the petals overlapping and slightly spread.  (The illustration shows a garden rose slipped and leaved.)  This distinction is no longer made:  all roses, be they heraldic or natural, are now blazoned simply as “roses” – with the understanding that they may all be legitimately drawn in the heraldic form.  If the emblazon is submitted with a garden rose, however – seen from the side – it’s considered a step from period practice.  Moreover, a naturalistic rose may not be blazoned “proper”, as roses in nature come in many colors.  (The exception had been the “Damask rose proper”, which was treated as pink.  This variant is no longer permitted, as being too naturalistic for medieval heraldry.)

A more specific variant of the garden rose was the “garden rosebud”, depicted with the petals closed, before the flower has fully bloomed.  (The illustration shows a garden rosebud slipped and leaved.)  This rose variant is no longer permitted in Society armory.

A “double rose” is an heraldic rose charged with another.  When the inner petals are the same tincture as the outer petals, the double rose is treated as an artistic variation of the standard heraldic rose (indeed, the fact that the rose is doubled is currently left unblazoned), with no difference granted.  When the inner and outer petals are of different tinctures, the outer petals are blazoned first:  i.e., “a double rose gules and argent” and “a rose gules charged with a rose argent” are equivalent blazons.

A “rose en soleil” is shown with solar rays, alternating straight and wavy, issuant from its edges; this was a badge of Edward IV, d.1483 [HB 97].

In English cadency, the rose is the brisure of the seventh son.  In the War of the Roses, the white rose was the badge of the House of York, and the red rose the badge of the House of Lancaster; roses of those tinctures may not be used in Society armory when the submitter’s name includes “of York” or “of Lancaster”, respectively.  The Tudor rose, combining the York and Lancaster roses (in any of several specific ways, such as impaled), is prohibited from Society use.  Likewise, the crowned rose is an English Royal badge, and so not registerable in the Society.

Kendall flower (Disallowed)

Mamluk rosette (Disallowed)

Of rose variants unique to the Society, the most common is the “Kendal flower proper”:  a simplified rose of six petals, alternately argent and gules, barbed Or, seeded vert.  This form was once disallowed, as being a variant of the Tudor rose; while the motif is now registerable, it’s no longer blazoned by the Society-specific term.  There is also the “Mamluk rosette”, a motif found in Arabic art, which is essentially a stylized sexfoil; it likewise has been disallowed, as having been too uncommon in period to be compatible with Society armory.

For related charges, see foil.

The Legion of Courtesy, of Caid, bears:  A rose Or barbed and seeded vert.

Alys of the Midnight Rose bears:  Or, a rose slipped and leaved azure.

Jonas Aquilian bears:  Azure, three roses argent.

Sonja of Atenveldt bears:  Per chevron azure and sable, a rose gules en soleil argent.

Aurelia of Ashton bears:  Azure fretty argent, on an open book Or a damask rosebud slipped and leaved proper.

Kaidu ibn Yesugai bears:  Azure, on a bend sinister Or between two Mamluk rosettes argent, an arrow inverted sable fletched gules.

Gerhard Kendal of Westmoreland bears:  Or, a lizard tergiant displayed vert between in fess two Kendal flowers proper.

Lotus blossom affronty (Accepted); lotus blossom in profile (Accepted)

The lotus is a cup-shaped flower, said to induce a dreamy languor and forgetfulness.  The flower may be found in heraldry either affronty (top image) or in profile (bottom image), with neither being default; the exact orientation must thus be specified.  No examples have been found in period armory; in modern armory, the lotus affronty is the badge of India [Guide 204].

Osman al-Koriesh ibn Kairos bears:  Per pale sable and argent, a lotus blossom affronty within a bordure counterchanged.

Aletheia Isidora of Philae bears:  Argent, a lotus affronty and a chief wavy azure.

Katja Dara bears:  Per chevron vert and sable, a lotus flower in profile argent.

Lily (Period)

The lily is a flower with a stylized heraldic form.  It was the flower of the Virgin Mary and was a symbol of purity and virtue; in period heraldry, though not found as early as the rose, it was second only to the rose in popularity.  Lilies are found in the arms of Mayo, 1504 [Parker 371].

Though possibly related in origin to the fleur-de-lys, the two were considered distinctly different charges by the end of period:  the grant of arms to Eton College, 1449, has both lilies and a fleur-de-lys, so specified [Hope 67].

Society armory also includes examples of more naturalistic lilies, distinguished in blazon by their breed:  e.g., “arum lily” or “tiger lily”.  These are drawn as found in nature, but no heraldic difference is granted for them.  See also iris, tulip.

Rothin in flamska bears:  Or, a lily gules.

Alais Llewella du Bois bears:  Per pale argent and vert, two lilies slipped and leaved counterchanged.

Leonora Monadh bears:  Vert, three lilies and a bordure Or.

Susannah of York bears:  Argent, a lily slipped and leaved purpure.

Iris slipped and leaved (Accepted)

The iris is a flower with sword-shaped leaves and drooping petals.  In heraldry texts [e.g., Woodward 333], it’s mentioned alongside the lily; but while the lily is often found in period heraldry, no examples have been found of the iris, so blazoned.  As a consequence, the iris has no stylized heraldic form; Society examples are usually depicted as found in nature.  The illustration shows an iris slipped and leaved.  See also tulip.

Keridwen of Montrose bears:  Per chevron counter-ermine and argent, in base an iris azure, slipped and leaved vert.

Rachel Ashton bears:  Or, three irises one and two purpure, cupped vert.

Sionett Roberts bears:  Vert, three irises one and two Or.

Gillyflower slipped and leaved (Period)

The gillyflower is a modest flower, the ancestor of the modern carnation; it was prized in period for its use in garlands.  As an heraldic charge, it is found in the arms of Pace, Bishop of Bangor, d.1533 [Parker 286].  The gillyflower is drawn in a stylized heraldic form; its “proper” coloration is gules, slipped vert.  The illustration shows a gillyflower slipped and leaved.

Dorathea Osborne bears:  Or, a gillyflower gules slipped and leaved vert, a bordure azure.

Grainne inghean ui Ghobhann bears:  Quarterly indented vert and sable, three gillyflowers in bend argent seeded Or.

Damiana d’Avignon bears:  Argent, three gillyflowers purpure slipped and leaved, a bordure vert.

Gendy flower (Disallowed)

This flower seems to be unique to the Society, defined in the following armory.  It is no longer permitted to be registered.

Alma Tea av den Telemark bears:  Lozengy sable and ermine, a Gendy flower gules.