☙ Amaranth

Genus Amaranthus L. (1753)WFO and former inclusions, sometimes including genus Celosia L. (1753).WFO

Period English: amaranth; flower-gentle;K&H velvet-flower.K&H

Period French: amarante f.;FDE BD K&H fleur d'amour f? ('love-flower');K&H passe-velours m. (pass-velvet) (See also Celosia).K&H

Period German: Amaranth m. JDS

Period Italian: amaranto m.;K&H fior veluto ('velvet-flower');K&H maraviglie di Spagna ('the Spanish wonder') (Amaranthus tricolor).K&H

Sentiments:

IndiffĂ©renceIndifference ◼︎ (1811); BD

Immortality ▲︎◆︎ (1825-1869); HP:FE SJH TTA ESP CHW EWW LH S&K HGA:OT RT:LOF

Unfading ▲︎ (1832); EWW

Lasting grief ▲︎ (1832); EWW

Immortality of the soul ▲︎ (1832); EWW

ImmortalitĂ©Immortality ◼︎ (1841); JDS

Region:

Native: TBC.

Introduced: TBC.

Seasonality: TBC.

Period Colours: TBC.

Heraldry: the Hermetic Order of the Amaranth; the Masonic Order of the Amaranth.

Religious: The Virgin Mary.

Included Species:

Amaranthus caudatus L. (1753), Love-lies-bleeding;WFO

Amaranthus hypochondriacus L. (1753), Prince's-feather;WFO

Amaranthus tricolor L. (1753), Joseph's coat;WFO

Celosia argentea L. (1753), Cockscomb.WFO

Cited Verse:

❧ "Ode for Musick (on St. Cecilia's Day)", Alexander Pope, Ode for musick. London: printed for Bernard Lintott (1713) lines 70-75 (Read!);CHW

❧ "Rosalind and Helen", Percy Bysshe Shelley, Rosalind and Helen, A Modern Eclogue; With Other Poems. London: C. and J. Ollier (1819) p.67 (Read!).K&H

đŸœ± There is much discourse regarding the species intended by the designation of ‘amaranth’, as I will attempt to cover below, including whether the amaranth of the classical authors and poets is a real plant at all. Mihai Costea and François J. Tardif, in their article 'The Name of the Amaranth: Histories of Meaning' (SIDA, Contributions to Botany, vol. 20, No. 3, 2003, pp. 1073–83), discuss this matter at length, and it is primarily their research which is summarised here.

đŸœ± In Victorian floriography, the amaranth of the Ancient Greeks is usually assumed by writers to be A. caudatus (love-lies-bleeding) or A. tricolor (tri- or bi-coloured amaranth). However, both A. caudatus and A. tricolor were introduced to Europe in the 16th century from the Americas and Asia respectively, and the writings assigning the name ‘Amaranth’ (and thus unchangeable) to a plant pre-date this introduction. A. blitum, a European species, was called 'blite' in Ancient Greece and became associated with the name only in the 17th century.

đŸœ± Instead, the amaranth of the oldest authors (Dioscorides, and even potentially of Vatsyayana's Kama Sutra) appears to be the yellow-flowered everlasting genus Helichrysum, and particularly potentially Helichrysum arenarium (L.) Moench (Everlasting).

đŸœ± The amaranth of Pliny, and authors such as Ovid, Tibullus Albius, Plutarch, and Columella, is hypothesised to instead be Celosia argentea L. (cockscomb).

đŸœ± To return to the genus Amaranth, however, the amaranth of authors post-16th century, especially in Christian contexts, is widely cited as A. caudatus, and that will be explored in its particular sub-entry.

đŸœ± I have deemed the common names given here vague enough to qualify as the broad ‘amaranth’ emblem. For example, by considering Gerard's Herbal of 1597, we see ‘flower-gentle’ and ‘amaranth’ being used synonymously with ‘everlasting’. This, too, is relevant to Cervantes’ use of the term in Don Quixote, which we can only assume to species as it is described as ‘red’.

In Fabre d'Églantine's 1793 rural emblem annex to the French Republican calendar, Amaranthe is the emblem of 8 VendĂ©miaire (29 September).


Abécédaire de Flore

B. DelachĂ©naye, 1811 ◼︎


EMBLÉMES TIRÉS DU RÈGNE VÉGÉTAL.


A.


Amarante signifie indifférence.


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