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The flower of the amaranth plant

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.

Amaranth

Amaranth
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#E52B50
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(229, 43, 80)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(345°, 78%, 64%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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. ^[1]

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

Pale Amaranth Pink
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#DDBEC3
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(221, 190, 195)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(345°, 37%, 99 ]%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color pale amaranth pink is displayed at right. This is the color of pale pink amaranth flowers.

Amaranth Pink

Amaranth Pink
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#F19CBB
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(241, 156, 187)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(345°, 47%, 92%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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. ^[2]

Radical Red (Bright Amaranth Pink)

Radical Red
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#FF355E
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(255, 53, 94)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(345°, 84%, 84%)
Source		Crayola
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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

Amaranth Magenta
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#ED3CCA
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(237, 60, 202)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(304°, 97%, 74%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color amaranth magenta is displayed at right. This is the color of magenta amaranth flowers.

Amaranth Cerise

Amaranth Cerise
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#CD2682
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(205, 38, 130)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(354°, 77%, 82%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color amaranth cerise is displayed at right. This is the color of cerise amaranth flowers.

Amaranth Purple

Amaranth Purple
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#AB274F
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(171, 39, 79)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(285°, 37%, 44%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

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. ^[3]

Amaranth Deep Purple

Amaranth Deep Purple
— Color coordinates —
Hex triplet		#9F2B68
RGBB	(r, g, b)	(159, 43, 104)
HSV	(h, s, v)	(285°, 34%, 40%)
Source		[Unsourced]
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

The color amaranth deep purple is displayed at right. This is the deep purple color of some amaranth flowers.

Shades of Amaranth Color Comparison Chart

• Pale Amaranth Pink (Hex: #DDBEC3) (RGB: 221, 190, 195)
• Amaranth Pink (Hex: #F19CBB) (RGB: 241, 156, 187)
• Bright Amaranth Pink (Crayola Radical Red) (Hex: #FF355E) (RGB: 255, 53, 94)
• Amaranth (Hex: #E52B50) (RGB: 229, 43, 80)
• Amaranth Magenta (Hex: #ED3CCA) (RGB: 237, 60, 202)
• Amaranth Cerise (Hex: #CD2682) (RGB: 205, 38, 130)
• Amaranth Purple (Hex: #AB274F) (RGB: 171, 39, 79)
• Amaranth Deep Purple (Hex: #9F2B68) (RGB: 159, 43, 104)

Amaranth in Human Culture

Academic Dress

• In the French academic dress 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 entitled "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 Hellenism (the pagan 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).

Sport

• Italian football teams Livorno and Reggina have amaranth as their traditional home kit color.

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".

See also

• Amaranth
• Amaranth (dye)
• Amarantine
• Cerise
• Crimson
• Magenta
• Pink
• Red
• Rose

References

1. ^ 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.)
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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

External links

• [1]

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.]

• [2]

Picture of purple amaranth flower

• Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium: Amaranthus cruentus L.
• Picture of a deep purple amaranth flower