Blue rose

Blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses, since roses lack a gene to produce delphinidin, the primary plant pigment that produces true blue flowers. So-called "blue roses" have been bred by conventional hybridization methods, but the results, such as "Blue Moon" are more accurately described as lilac in color. However, after thirteen years of joint research by an Australian company Florigene, and Japanese company Suntory, a blue rose was created in 2004 using genetic engineering. The delphinidin gene was cloned from the petunia and inserted into a mauve-blend rose, the Old Garden Rose 'Cardinal de Richelieu' (a "Rosa gallica"). However, since the pigment cyanidin was still present, the rose was more dark burgundy than true blue. Further work on the rose using RNAi technology to depress the production of cyanidin produced a mauve colored flower, with only trace amounts of cyanidin.

Blue roses traditionally signify mystery or attaining the impossible. They are believed to be able to grant the owner youth or grant wishes. This symbolism derives from the rose's meaning in the language of flowers common in Victorian times.

Suntory Ltd. is presently growing test batches of the genetically-modified blue roses in the United States and Australia, according to company spokesman Atsuhito Osaka, but plans to start marketing them in Japan in 2009. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/04/wroses104.xml News Release] ]

Mythology

According to a Chinese folktale, the blue rose signified hope against unattainable love. There are various versions of this story that can be found online. [ [http://www.civprod.com/storylady/stories/TheBlueRose.htm] ]

Literature

The Blue Rose was a symbolist, impressionist influenced art movement in Tsarist Russia in the early 20th Century.

In the play The Glass Menagerie, the sister in the play was ill with "pleurosis" or pleurisy as a teenager. During a scene a former classmate tells her that he interpreted the word as "blue roses", which became his nickname for her.

In the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, blue roses are used to symbolise the character Lyanna Stark.

Peter Straub has written the "Blue Rose Trilogy", consisting of "Koko", "Mystery", and "The Throat". Blue roses are also a key part of one of the events described in his short story "Bunny Is Good Bread", which depicts the childhood of Fielding "Fee" Bandolier, one of the characters who appears in the "Blue Rose Trilogy".

Anime

In the anime series Blood+, blue roses are seen during the Vietnam arc as the symbol of the "Phantom" (the Chevalier Carl). It is from the legend that The Phantom who fell in love with a girl named Rose (implied to be Diva) could marry her if he gave her a blue rose. He searched for one and when he returned Rose had died. He wept and when the last tear hit the ground blue roses spung up. Now the legend is that he presents dark haired girls at the school with a blue rose and then takes them away. They are also seen in Diva's Tower at the Zoo in Bordeaux, France. Blue roses are the symbol of Diva. Diva almost always has a blue rose somewhere on her clothing.

Blue roses are used in "Revolutionary Girl Utena", as the rose color for duelists Miki Kaoru, Ruka Tsuchiya, and, in the video game adaption, Chigusa Sanjouin, which matches with the color of their hair. For Miki, blue represents his intelligence, and for Ruka, the ambiguity of his motivations. What the blue rose means for Chigusa has yet to be determined.

In Fullmetal Alchemist, the lover of the alchemist Majahal, a girl named Karin that died young, was well known for cultivating blue roses.

In Paradise Kiss, the designer George discusses that the dyeing of white roses blue shows that nothing is impossible, stating that he wants to be a "magician" that shows people marvelous illusions instead of a scientist. The dress that is created over the course of the series is themed around blue roses.

In Ouran High School Host Club, Hikaru Hitachiin's rose colour is light blue, and Takashi Morinozuka's rose colour is dark blue.

In Vampire Knight, Kaname gives Yuuki a blue rose in resin. Yuuki can also be seen with a blue rose in her hair and on the ground in the ending theme.

In the anime School Rumble, one mentions the 'oneiric blue rose of Damascus'. The origin of this supposedly myth is yet unknown.

In the manga version of Angel Sanctuary the character Mad Hatter or Belial pulls a blue rose out of nowhere for Kurai and says her eyes are the same color as the rose.

In the second version of the opening, Death Note, a pair of blue roses are shown in a puddle near the end.

Videogames

The protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 4, Old Snake, refers to himself as being a blue rose: a being created by human manipulation of genetics rather than a natural being.

Film

A blue rose appears in David Lynch's film "". It is seen pinned to a red dress worn by a 'dancing girl' called 'Lil' who appears at a briefing attended by two FBI agents, which their boss, Gordon Cole (played by Lynch himself) has summoned them to. The way that Lil is dressed and her actions symbolise different aspects of the case they are about to take on. The visual clues are subsequently explained by special agent Chester Desmond, to his new partner Sam Stanley. However, he is unable to say anything about the blue rose.

There is a further reference in the film to the fact this is 'one of Cole's blue rose cases', and agent Chester Desmond states that he's returning to one of the scenes of the investigation because he's 'going back for the blue rose'. Like many aspects of Lynch's films, the meaning of the blue rose remains a mystery.

A version of the film Beauty and The Beast also shows where the Beast gives Belle a Blue Rose when he chages back to human form.

The blue rose also appears in the movie "I Know Who Killed Me" with Lindsay Lohan. Her boyfriend gives her a bunch of blue roses.

In the movie The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film), the blue rose is presented as the "Blue Rose of Forgetfulness."

Use in graphic design

Blue roses adorn many printed ceramics and have done so since under-glaze blue printing became a common mode of decoration in the 1700s. In the late 1960s Wedgwood produced a range of bone china decorated with blue roses, the so-called "Ice Rose" design.

Since 1970 the blue rose has featured predominantly on bed linen, lingerie, printed flannelette, printed tablecloths, headscarves, handkerchiefs, gros point tapestry designs, packaging and printed toilet paper.

The blue rose appears to have held a particular fascination for the designers of printed textiles; at certain times, for example the 1970s, the blue rose far outstripped roses of a more natural colour as a popular design motif.

The "Blue Rose Poster" was a popular psychedelic poster produced for a 1978 Grateful Dead concert.

References

External links

* [http://www.physorg.com/news3581.html An article on the use of RNAi technology to produce a blue rose]
* [http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/verse/p3/blueroses.html Rudyard Kipling's poem on the lack of blue roses]
* [http://www.apuldramroses.co.uk/blue-roses.asp Poem and information on blue roses]