In the Victorian era small groupings of flowers were gathered into a cluster called a tussy mussy (alternate spelling - tussie mussie). The language of flowers might be used to imbue meaning if the tussy mussy were to be given as a gift. Another Victorian use for the tussy mussy was to bury the nose and hence to filter out noxious odors.
Victorian tussie mussies were carried in the hand or worn about the neck on a cord.
Victorians took their tussie mussies seriously. Households often had dictionaries of the meaning of the various flowers. One would not dare just send a bouquet without first doing their research!
Today, the language of flowers is a quaint and antiquated concept. Lists often conflict on the meaning of any given flower.