20 popular flowers that start with P and their significance

For a long time, flowers have been known for their beauty, sweet scents, and various meanings. Although each flower has a unique significance, flowers that start with P stand out with their striking colors and deep meanings. They not only adorn but also convey powerful messages. Daryl Beyers, New York Botanical Garden Continuing Education Instructor, says many P-flowers derive their meanings from mythology, folklore, and environmental influences. Discover the flowers whose names start with P and know what each of them means.

Key takeaways

• Each flower’s significance is shaped by its color, form, and historical context.
• Environmental factors like native plants and medicinal uses influence a flower’s symbolism.

Popular flowers that start with P

What is the flower that starts with P? Not only one but there are numerous flowers whose names begin with the letter. They come in different colors and sizes and originate from various parts of the world. Here is a compilation of blooms starting with P.

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1. Painted daisy

Painted daisies are striking and eye-catching blooms in different shades, including pink, red, and white, with yellow centers. They represent cheerfulness, optimism, happiness, protection, and healing. While some people use them as ornamental plants, others tap into their ability to repel insects and use them as natural insecticides.

2. Pansy

Pansies are small, beautiful, delicate flowers known for their brightly colored petals. They come in yellow, blue, purple, and white hues. The flower's name is derived from a French word meaning thought, and it symbolizes thoughtfulness, love and admiration, and free-spiritedness. It is most used in culinary and decorative applications.

3. Purple passionflower

Passionflower is also commonly known as maypop or purple passionflower. Its star-shaped blooms have filaments at the center surrounded by petals. Its color combinations are white, purple, red, and blue. Passionflower has religious symbolism, meaning the passion of Christ, faithfulness, suffering, and endurance.

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4. Pear blossom

Pear blossoms are flowers from the pear tree. Usually, each flower has five petals, either pink or green. These flowers signify prosperity, good fortune, elegance, and fleeting beauty. In most cases, they are used as ornamental additions to floral arrangements in events such as weddings.

5. Pelargonium

Pelargonium is also among eye-catching flowers starting with P. This type of bloom has approximately 280 species in different shades of red, pink, purple, orange, and white. The flowers represent true friendship, good health, happiness, and cheerfulness. In addition to their use as decorative plants, they have medicinal value and reportedly have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties.

6. Penstemon

Penstemon, also known as beardtongues, is a tubular perennial flower similar to small bells. It is found in various colors, including purple, blue, red, pink, and white. It is associated with courage, boldness, resilience, and elegance. This flower is a common inclusion in floral decorations, gardens, and landscapes.

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7. Peony

Also known as paeony, this bloom is rich in fragrance and has attractive, colorful petals. It comes in different varieties, including red, white, pink, or yellow. It symbolizes prosperity, good fortune, honor, and romance. It is a common flower in bouquet arrangements at weddings and other celebrations.

8. Periwinkle

Periwinkle is a beautiful flower commonly used to add a touch of elegance to gardens and landscapes. Depending on the variety, this ground-covering plant comes in lavender-blue, violet, or white. It is a symbol of serenity, sentimentality, and everlasting love. Beyond its beautification value, it is a medical plant for healing injuries and curing circulatory disorders.

9. Petty spurge

Petty spurge flowers are tiny and might not be visible to some people. Unlike other vibrant flowers, petty spurge is not grown for decoration but for its medicinal value. It has anti-inflammatory and antitumor properties and may also be used for pest control. The flower signifies simplicity, protection, resilience, and adaptability.

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10. Petunia

Petunia is a trumpet-like flower recognized for its vibrant and brightly colored petals. Petunia flowers can be red, white, pink, purple, yellow, or multi-colored, depending on the variety. These flowers represent purity, innocence, friendship, affection, and joy. They can be used in landscaping and container gardening.

11. Phlox

Phlox is another beautiful flower starting with P and has profound symbolism. Also referred to as flowering moss, phlox is admirable for its vibrancy and colorfulness. It exists in pink, purple, yellow, white, and bi-colours and represents harmony, friendship, and unity. It is an ornamental flower primarily used for decorations.

12. Pincushion flower

This flower has a globe-shaped head with several small florets. The flower colors range from blue to lavender to pink and white. Pincushion flowers are perfect additions to gardens and are one of the best insect attractants. They represent true love, thoughtfulness, admiration, and gratitude.

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13. Pink (Dianthus)

Its delicate fragrance and attractive petals in various shades of white, pink, and red are a delight. You will likely find it in bouquets and centerpieces at weddings and corporate events. It symbolizes feelings of love, affection, gratitude, and admiration.

14. Plumbago

Plumbago may also be referred to as Leadwort or Cape Leadwort. It is valued for its eye-catching cluster of blooms. This tubular flower has numerous varieties and is recognized for its pink and white shades. It is primarily used for decoration and stands for romance, commitment, serenity, and nostalgia.

15. Plumeria

Plumeria is a popular landscaping plant valued for its numerous colors, sizes, and scents. Its lush flowers are usually red, yellow, pink, or multi-colored. Plumeria represents new beginnings, affection, grace, and wealth. Due to its sweet fragrance, it is an essential ingredient for aromatherapy.

16. Poppy

Poppy has eye-catching blooms with delicate, papery petals in multiple colors. While its petals may be red, orange, yellow, white, and pink, the cluster at the center contrasts. It signifies death, remembrance, sleep, and resilience. Poppy is a common flower in funerals and commemorative events.

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17. Prairie smoke

Prairie smoke is another stunning flower beginning with P. It is recognized for its distinctive bloom that looks like puffs of smoke. It also has feathery plumes and bell-shaped flowers in various colors, including pink and purple. The flower means natural beauty, mystery, resilience, and adaptability.

18. Primrose

Primrose is a low-growing fragrant flower with colorful and delicate petals. Depending on the variety, the petals in groups of five vary in color, including pale yellow, pink, red, and purple. The flower represents youthfulness, devotion, renewal, and protection. 

19. Protea

This is a South African native flower recognized for its distinctive and eye-catching appearance. It has a sun-like flower head with several small flowers of varying colors, such as yellow, pink, orange, red, and white. It symbolizes change, diversity, transformation, resilience, and hope.

20. Poinsettia

This flower is usually associated with festivities such as Christmas. It typically has bright red bracts but may also have yellow, white, pink, or multi-colored bracts. It represents goodwill, joy, cheer, and celebratory mood.

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Origins of flower symbolism

Daryl Beyers, the New York Botanical Garden Continuing Education Instructor, explained in an interview that certain flowers gain their significance or symbolism from mythology, the Christian Bible, or local folklore. He shares some examples such as:

1. The peony got its name from Greek mythology linking it to a nymph named Paeonia, whose beauty attracted the attention of Apollo, and as a result, Peony flowers symbolize love, happiness, and romance.
2. Purple passionflower symbolizes holy love, faith, and belief, in the Spanish Christian missionaries who adopted the unique structure of the plant as a symbol of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross.
3. Petunia, a symbol of resentment and anger, comes from the Mayan and Incan belief that the scent of petunias had the power to ward off underworld monsters and spirits.

Lesser-known symbolism of flowers starting with P

The expert notes that the color of a flower can alter its symbolism. He shared the following examples:

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• Blue Plumbago symbolizes perseverance while White Plumbago means tranquility.
• With the Poppy, red implies pleasure, white implies consolation, and yellow implies success.
• Pelargonium represents either comfort or stupidity, illustrating the varied interpretations that depend on the context.

Environmental impact on the symbolism of popular P-flowers

Beyers explains that environmental factors—such as the native plants of a region, their landscape appearance, and potential medicinal uses—shape a flower’s meaning. He said:

Some plants are harbingers of a particular season, like Periwinkle, which blooms fresh each season and thus symbolizes new beginnings. Take Protea, for example, a native plant found in South Africa and Australia. The flower is the national emblem of South Africa, symbolizing resilience and beauty in the face of adversity, a likely sentiment among newcomers to those lands.

The name comes from the Greek god Proteus, known for his ability to change shape and adapt, and the Protea flowers reflect this mythological characteristic through their variety of forms, colors, and sizes.

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What is a blue flower that starts with P?

This flower's blooms are mainly lavender-blue. However, depending on the variety, they may also be shades of violet or white.

Which Chinese flower starts with P?

Peony is a traditional Chinese flower used in spiritual and traditional events, especially during marriage ceremonies. It is a symbol of prosperity, good luck, love, and honor.

What is the African flower beginning with P?

Protea is of South African origin. Its sun-shaped flower head comes in a variety of colors. The flower represents change, diversity, transformation, resilience, and hope.

Flowers that start with P include a wide range of varieties with striking beauty and deep significance. They evoke different sentiments and are presented during celebrations and mourning events. Therefore, these flowers are beyond beauty and have profound meanings depending on the contexts in which they are used.

Legit.ng recently published a list of the prettiest flowers that start with C. Numerous flower varieties exist worldwide, many of which have names beginning with C. Which flowers are they?

Flowers are known for their beauty and varied significance. While most people admire flowers, only a few know their names. Flowers whose names begin with C are outstanding. Read on to find out which flowers they are.

Source: Legit.ng