Graciousness, and a Charm Against Deception

In folk magic the snapdragon was a protective plant, held to guard against deceit, curses and the malice of others: to grow it, wear it or place it in the house was to turn falsehood back on the deceiver, and its skull-like seed-pods reinforced a reputation for warding off harm. In the Victorian language of flowers it carried the double meaning of graciousness and of presumption or deception, and a snapdragon could be sent to signal that one saw through a lie. Its symbolism grows from the two vivid features of the plant itself, the snapping dragon-mouth of the flower and the little skull of the seed-pod, turning a children's garden plaything into an emblem of protection and of seeing through pretence.

The flowers are also genuinely edible, their petals mild in flavour and sometimes used fresh as a decorative addition to salads, a modern culinary footnote entirely separate from the plant's old reputation for guarding against curses and lies. Snapdragon seed remains viable in the soil for a remarkably long time, and dormant seed has been known to germinate after years of lying buried, a botanical fact that gave the plant, in some regional folklore, an additional association with hidden truths eventually coming to light, echoing its Victorian meaning of seeing through deception.