Amaranth (color)

Amaranth is a reddish-rose color that is a representation of the color of the flower of the amaranth plant. The color shown is the color of the red amaranth flower (the color normally considered amaranth), but there are other varieties of amaranth that have other colors of amaranth flowers; these colors are also shown below.

infobox color
title= Amaranth
hex= E52B50
r=229|g= 43|b= 80
c= 10|m= 73|y= 58|k= 10
h=345|s= 78|v= 64

Amaranth

The color amaranth is displayed at right. This color is also called "amaranth red" to distinguish it from the varying colors of other varieties of the amaranth flower.

This color is similar to printer's magenta (pigment magenta) (Hex Code #FF0090) (but a lot more reddish). It is the color of the flower of those amaranth plants that have "amaranth red" colored flowers.

The first recorded use of "amaranth" as a color name in English was in 1690. [ Maerz and Paul "A Dictionary of Color" New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 189; Color Sample of Amaranth: Page 127 Plate 53 Color Sample L3 (Note: The color sample called Amaranth in "A Dictionary of Color" is not the Amaranth Red color shown above that is normally considered Amaranth today, but is the color shown above as Amaranth Deep Purple.)]

Etymology

The name "amaranth" comes from the Greek "a" (not) + "marainean" (to waste away), i.e., a flower that never died that was believed to grow on Mount Olympus.

Color variations

Pale Amaranth Pink

infobox color
title= Pale Amaranth Pink
hex= DDBEC3
r=221|g=190|b=195
c= 14|m= 67|y= 34|k= 0
h=345|s= 37|v= 99 ] The color pale amaranth pink is displayed at right. This is the color of pale pink amaranth flowers.

Amaranth Pink

infobox color
title= Amaranth Pink
hex= F19CBB
r=241|g=156|b=187
c= 17|m= 77|y= 64|k= 0
h=345|s= 47|v= 92 The color amaranth pink is displayed at right. This is the color of pink amaranth flowers.

The first recorded use of "amaranth pink" as a color name in English was in 1905. [ Maerz and Paul "A Dictionary of Color" New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 189; Color Sample of Amaranth Pink: Page 121 Plate 49 Color Sample D8 ]

Radical Red (Bright Amaranth Pink)

infobox color
title= Radical Red
hex= FF355E
r=255|g= 53|b= 94
c= |m= |y= |k=
h=345|s= 84|v= 84
source=Crayola The Crayola crayon color radical red is displayed at right.

This color, which may also be called bright amaranth pink, was formulated by Crayola in 1990.

Amaranth Magenta

infobox color
title= Amaranth Magenta
hex= ED3CCA
r=237|g= 60|b=202
c= 47|m= 97|y= 64|k= 0
h=304|s= 97|v= 74 The color amaranth magenta is displayed at right. This is the color of magenta amaranth flowers.

Amaranth Cerise

infobox color|textcolor=white
title= Amaranth Cerise
hex= CD2682
r=205|g= 38|b=130
c= 17|m= 77|y= 64|k= 0
h=354|s= 77|v= 82 The color amaranth cerise is displayed at right. This is the color of cerise amaranth flowers.

Amaranth Purple

infobox color
title= Amaranth Purple|textcolor=white
hex= AB274F
r=171|g= 39|b= 79
c= 77|m= 87|y= 64|k= 20
h=285|s= 37|v= 44 The color amaranth purple is displayed at right. This is the purple color of purple amaranth flowers.

The first recorded use of "amaranth purple" as a color name in English was in 1912. [Maerz and Paul "A Dictionary of Color" New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 189; Color Sample of Amaranth Purple: Page 129 Plate 53 Color Sample L3]

Amaranth Deep Purple

infobox color
title= Amaranth Deep Purple|textcolor=white
hex= 9F2B68
r=159|g= 43|b=104
c= 78|m= 88|y= 54|k= 20
h=285|s= 34|v= 40 The color amaranth deep purple is displayed at right. This is the deep purple color of some amaranth flowers.

Amaranth in Human Culture

Academic Dress

* In the French academic system, the five traditional fields of study (Arts, Science, Medicine, Law and Divinity) are each symbolised by a distinctive color, which appears in the academic dress of the people who graduated in this field. Amaranth is the distinctive color for Science.

Art

* In science fiction art, humans, extraterrestrials, androids, or robots who are immortal may be depicted as wearing amaranth colored robes.

Finance

* Amaranth Advisors was an American hedge fund that collapsed in 2006.

Fraternal organizations

* Order of the Amaranth is an organization within the Masonic Order.

Heraldry

* Amaranth was the heraldic color used in the cockade and uniforms of the army of the Kingdom of Naples under Joachim Murat (1811-1814). Murat was famous for his eccentric taste in uniform colors.

Horticulture

* Amaranth flowers in their various colors are popular garden plants.

Literature

* "Amaranth" is the name of the otherworldly pantheon that amuses itself by toying with individuals' luck in Tim Lebbon's novella "The Unfortunate".
* In Garth Nix's novel "Abhorsen," the third chapter is entitled "Amaranth, Rosemary and Tears".
* "Love-Lies-Bleeding" (a poetic name for the amaranth flower) is the title of a 2005 play by Don DeLillo.
* In Orson Scott Card's novel "Speaker for the Dead", amaranth is the only grass in the limited ecosystem of the planet Lusitania.
* In the novel "To Live Forever" by Jack Vance, the members of the Amaranth Society have achieved immortality.

Music

* "Amaranth" is the title of a music CD by composer Robert Agis.
* In the AFI song, "The Great Disappointment", Davey Havok sings: "I can remember. I searched for the amaranth. I'd shut my eyes to see."
* The Swedish gothic/doom metal band Draconian has written a song titled "The Amaranth".
* "Amarantine" is the name of a 2005 album and single by Irish vocal artist Enya, and is mentioned in her song "Flora's Secret" wherein she sings: "Looking up through eyes of amaranthine."
* It is a song by Finnish symphonic/power metal band Nightwish, for their 2007 album Dark Passion Play.
* In the Animal Collective song, "Cuckoo Cuckoo," Avey Tare sings: "I can't see the landscape. Please describe its amaranthine haze."

Mythology

* In Greek mythology, "Amaranthus" was a hunter of the island of Euboea, a son of King Abas. He was loved by the goddess Artemis and joined her in the hunt. But he insulted Poseidon as worthless, claiming the bounty of the hunt was superior to that of the sea. For this the god sent a giant wave which washed him into the sea and drowned him. Artemis then turned him into an amaranth-flower, her sacred plant.

Poetry and literary symbolism

* The color "amaranth" represents immortality in Western culture because the name is derived from the name in Greek mythology of a flower that was believed to never die that grew in the abode of the Greek gods on Mount Olympus. Something that is perceived as "everlasting" may be described by the adjective "amaranthine". (The color peach represents immortality in Chinese culture, because in Daoism the Goddess of the West is believed to guard the peach trees of immortality in the Tian Shan mountains.)
* "Amaranth" is the name of a long Sapphic poem by the great imagiste H.D., and is based on Sappho's fragment 131.

Religion

* Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops wear robes and zucchetti (sing. zucchetto) (skullcaps) trimmed in amaranth, or wholly amaranth; cardinals, however, wear scarlet.
* In pagan Hellenism (the religion of Ancient Greece), the amaranth plant (also called chrusanthemon and elichrusos) was sacred to Ephesian Artemis. It was supposed to have special healing properties, and as a symbol of immortality amaranth flowers were used to decorate images of the gods and tombs. In legend, Amaranthus (a form of Amarantus) was a hunter of Artemis and king of Euboea; in a village of Amarynthus, of which he was the eponymous hero, there was a famous temple of Artemis Amarynthia or Amarysia (Strabo x. 448; Pausan. i. 31, p. 5).

Video Games

* In the video game Final Fantasy IX, Amarant Coral is a character with red hair; he is also known as "Flaming Amarant", "Scarlet Hair", and "Red".

References

ee also

* Amaranth
* Amarantine
* Cerise
* Crimson
* Magenta
* Pink
* Red
* Rose

External links

* [http://www.driedflowersdirect.com/dried-flowers/gomphrena.htm Web page showing the various colors of amaranth flowers (sources of the colors shown above, except deep purple amaranth)--next to pink amaranth flower, click to go to other colors of amaranth flowers: cerise amaranth flowers (mislabeled carmine), pale pink amaranth flowers (called Italian pink), magenta amaranth flowers (mislabeled purple), and amaranth red amaranth flowers.]
* [http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/speciesphoto/AMACRU.jpg&imgrefurl=http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/Searchcolors.asp%3Fcolor%3DB%26LIM%3D0%26sortop%3DTaxa&h=102&w=102&sz=3&hl=en&start=16&tbnid=Gzu8akV9TW2sQM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522Amaranth%2BPurple%2522%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG] Picture of purple amaranth flower
* [http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=AMACRU Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium: Amaranthus cruentus L.]
* [http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/50618/ Picture of a deep purple amaranth flower]