Amaranth is a

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

dish-

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are assoc ...

that is a representation of the color of the

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

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.

Description

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. The color ''amaranth'' is similar to printer's

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blu ...

(pigment magenta), but redder. 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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

was in 1690.

Etymology

The name ''amaranth'' comes from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''a'' (not) + ''marainean'' (to waste away), i.e., a flower believed to grow on

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

which never died.

Variations

Pink

The color amaranth pink is displayed at right. This color is a representation of the color of pink amaranth flowers. The first recorded use of ''amaranth pink'' as a color name in English was in 1905.

Bright

The

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing company specializing in art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered in Forks Township, Pennsylva ...

crayon A crayon (or wax pastel) is a stick of pigmented wax used for writing or drawing. Wax crayons differ from pastels, in which the pigment is mixed with a dry binder such as gum arabic, and from oil pastels, where the binder is a mixture of wax a ...

color radical red is displayed at right. The color ''radical red'', which may also be called bright amaranth pink, was formulated by Crayola in 1990. This color is supposed to be

fluorescent Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, the emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore a lower photon energy, ...

, but there is no mechanism for displaying fluorescence on a computer screen.

Purple

The color amaranth purple is displayed at right. This color is a representation of the color of purple amaranth flowers. The first recorded use of ''amaranth purple'' as a color name in

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

Deep

Amaranth deep purple is the tone of amaranth that is called ''amaranth'' in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color''.

Alizarin

Alizarin is the tone of amaranth that is called ''alizarin'' in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color''.

References

External links

Picture of purple amaranth flower
Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium: Amaranthus cruentus L.:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amaranth (Color) Shades of pink Shades of red