Love Purple Pansy 2010 44¢ Stamps — Love and Celebration (Not a Forever Stamp)

Please note: this is a 44¢ denominated stamp, not a Forever Stamp.

The flower and its name

The pansy has meant love since antiquity. Its name comes from the French pensée, meaning thought, and the flower is said to resemble a human face. Across a number of cultures it is held to turn the mind toward absent loved ones, and in some, to mend a broken heart.

Three legends

Greek. Eros — Cupid to the Romans — loosed a love arrow at a young woman, missed, and struck a flower instead, which turned purple and smiled. Shakespeare used the story in A Midsummer Night's Dream, where the fairies brew their love potion from a plant "formerly milky white, but now purple with the wounds of love."

German. The pansy once gave off a scent so extraordinary that people traveled thousands of miles to smell it — and trampled everything around it, leaving no fodder for cattle and no food for anyone. The flower prayed to God, who took away its fragrance and gave it beauty instead.

English. The Knights of the Round Table are said to have consulted a fortune teller who read pansies for romantic prospects. Fewer than seven wrinkles on the flower's face meant good luck in love.

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