Flowers, then and now

As I was walking to my Arabic class, I noticed the many beautiful flowers on the trees and vines along the road. So I decided to write about flowers today.  Here are the photos I took walking around today.

I did a little research about the role of flowers in ancient Egypt and learned that the mummies were sometimes adorned with flowers.  The leaves of flower bulbs were used to cover the eyes, nose, mouth and incisions in one mummy.  Flower bulbs were found in the neck of one mummy and bulbs of a type of lily were found on the chest of a female mummy.

In the 18th century, Egyptians often made collars of flowers mounted on papyrus.  Some of the flowers used were cornflowers, white and blue lotus and a type of chamomile.  Paintings in Tombs show these floral collars.

In modern times, flowers and plants have become a significant export for Egypt, being sent mainly to Europe.  Egypt exports 600 tons of flowers and plants annually.