Thus, it appears that flowers were once worn by the betrothed as tokens of their engagement, and Quarles in his "Sheapheard's Oracles," 1646, tells us how, "Love-sick swains Compose rush-rings and myrtle-berry chains, And stuck with glorious kingcups, and their bonnets Adorn'd with laurell slips, chaunt their love sonnets." Spenser, too, in his "Shepherd's Calendar" for April, speaks of "Coronations and sops in wine worn of paramours"-- sops in wine having been a nickname for pinks (_Dianthus plumarius_), although Dr.Prior assigns the name to _Dianthus caryophyllus_.

Similarly willow was worn by a discarded lover.

In the bridal crown, the rosemary often had a distinguished place, besides figuring at the ceremony itself, when it was, it would seem, dipped in scented water, an allusion to which we find in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Scornful Lady," where it is asked, "Were the rosemary branches dipped ?" Another flower which was entwined in the bridal garland was the lily, to which Ben Jonson refers in speaking of the marriage of his friend Mr.Weston with the Lady Frances Stuart:-- "See how with roses and with lilies shine, Lilies and roses (flowers of either sex), The bright bride's paths." It was also customary to plant a rose-bush at the head of the grave of a deceased lover, should either of them die before the wedding.

Sprigs of bay were also introduced into the bridal wreath, besides ears of corn, emblematical of the plenty which might always crown the bridal couple.
Nowadays the bridal wreath is almost entirely composed of orange-blossom, on a background of maiden-hair fern, with a sprig of stephanotis interspersed here and there.

Much uncertainty exists as to why this plant was selected, the popular reason being that it was adopted as an emblem of fruitfulness.