Writing of his experiences in World War I, Edmund Blunden in
‘Vlamertinghe: Passing the Chateau’:
“…Bold great daisies' golden lights,
Bubbling roses' pinks and whites—
Such a gay carpet! poppies by the million;
Such damask! such vermilion!
But if you ask me, mate, the choice of colour
Is scarcely right; this red should have been duller.”
On September 18 2007, I wrote on "self-absorption" of writers. Read it here.
As mentioned there, apparently, writers from Kalidasa to Dnyaneshwar (ज्ञानेश्वर) and beyond never mention a butterfly/ moth in their writings!
I claim this based on a book 'Nisrgotsav' by the late Durga Bhagwat. (“पिवळीच मी पाकोळी की”/ निसर्गोत्सव, 1996 लेखक: दुर्गा भागवत)
Now, I have learnt a little more on the subject.
In the issue dated September 25 2014 of the The New York Review of Books, Robin Lane Fox says:
"...Surprisingly, the poetry of flowers is often patchy and ill-informed. None of the ancient Greek poets mentions the brilliant wild tulips that run like red rivers through parts of the Greek landscape. Chinese poets focus on a narrow canon of flowers, soaked in symbolism and hidden meanings. They say nothing about the heavenly wild flora, the superb shrubs and mountain flowers that have transformed Western gardens since their collection and introduction by Europeans. John Milton’s poetry describes bunches of flowers that would never flower during one and the same season. No gardener, especially in Britain this year, would agree that April is “the cruellest month” and in no gardens or landscapes known to me does April breed “lilacs out of the dead land,” least of all on the American East Coast within range of the young T.S. Eliot..."
Very big names, very big civilizations were mentioned there...
Chinese poets focus on a narrow canon of flowers, soaked in symbolism and hidden meanings. They say nothing about the heavenly wild flora, the superb shrubs and mountain flower...
And so is true of Indians.
For Indian writers, lotus and rose- followed by Parijat (Night-flowering Jasmine), Champak (Magnolia champaca), Gulmohar (Delonix regia), Bakul (Mimusops elengi) etc- are 'soaked in symbolism and hidden meanings'. Not much place for 'wild flora, the superb shrubs and mountain flower'.
Chinese Chrysanthemum cultivar
Courtesy: 'The Golden Age of Botanical Art' by Martyn Rix