Green is the colour of vegetation, and its first and steadiest meaning is life, growth and fertility; it is the colour of spring, of the reviving world, and by extension of hope. In Islam green has a special and honoured place, associated with paradise, the Quran describes the blessed in green garments, and with the Prophet, so that it recurs on flags and in religious dress across the Muslim world.
In the Christian liturgical year green is the colour of Ordinary Time, the ordinary growing season of the church between the great feasts. But green is ambiguous. It is also the colour of poison, decay, mould and sickness, of the sickly complexion and, in the phrase, of envy; and in European folklore it could be the colour of the fairies and thus unlucky to wear. The pigment history compounds this, since several historic greens, verdigris, Scheele's green, were genuinely toxic. In the modern chakra system green is the heart centre.