amaranth

amaranth [Gr.,=unfading], common name for the Amaranthaceae (also commonly known as the pigweed family), a family of herbs, trees, and vines of warm regions, especially in the Americas and Africa. The genus Amaranthus includes several widely distributed species called amaranths that are characterized by a lasting red pigment in the stems and leaves. They have been a poetic symbol of immortality from the time of ancient Greece. Amaranthus also includes such weeds as the green amaranth, A. retroflexus, and various species commonly called tumbleweed and pigweed , as well as several cultivated plants—e.g., love-lies-bleeding, or tassel flower, and Joseph's coat. Other ornamentals in the family are the globe amaranth (genus Gomphrenia ), sometimes called bachelor's button, and the cockscomb ( Celosia ), both originally tropical annuals. They can be preserved dry and are used in everlasting bouquets. Amaranth is classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Magnoliopsida, order Caryophyllales.

amaranth A burgundy red colour, stable to light (E‐123).

amaranth in poetic and literary usage, an imaginary flower that never fades, and is thus taken as a type of immortality; the name comes ultimately from Greek amarantos ‘unfading’.