[f. L. flōr(i)-, flōs flower + Gr. μανία madness (see MANIA).] A mania or ‘rage’ for flowers in general, or for one particular sort or species of flower.
1822. Loudon, Encycl. Gard., § 54. This florimania seems to have declined and given way to a taste for exotics, during the reigns of Louis the fifteenth and sixteenth, which has ever since continued to prevail.
So Florimanist [see -IST], one possessed by florimania. (Cf. F. florimane.)
1822. Loudon, Encycl. Gard., § 44. The number of florimanists, Bosc observes, was much more considerable towards the middle of the last century than at this moment (1809).
