“[Gerard] Legh, in the Accedence of Armorie [1612] . . . specifies what the combination of green and red means in heraldry. Alone, vert ‘signifiethe ioyfull loue, bountifull minde, and gladness, with continuance of the same.’ Combine vert with ‘Sanguine,’ and the affect is ‘to laugh, and weepe at once’.”

—Bruce R. Smith, The Key of Green, 2009.