floreios

Floreios is a term used in Iberian languages to denote decorative flourishes and ornamental motifs inspired by flowers and plant forms. In art, design, and typography, floreos describe the curvilinear, leafy extensions and interlacing scrolls that embellish surfaces, letters, or objects.

Etymologically, the word derives from flor, "flower," and is used in Portuguese and Spanish to label ornamental elements across media.

Applications span several fields: in typography, floreos refer to swashes and ligatures that extend strokes of letters; in calligraphy, they denote decorative strokes that accompany letterforms; in architecture and the decorative arts, floreos appear as floral patterns, arabesques, and acanthus-inspired motifs on friezes, ceilings, and ceramics. In textiles and graphic design, floreos appear as borders, motifs, and repeating patterns that convey an organic, botanical style.

Historically, floreos are associated with periods that favored ornate ornament, notably Baroque and Rococo in Europe and their colonial offshoots in the Americas. In contemporary design, the term remains descriptive rather than technical, used to categorize a style of decoration rather than a fixed canon.

See also: arabesque, floral pattern, ornamental design, swash.