Amaranth. 
(IMMORTALITY.) 
“Immortal amaranth.” 
Milton. 
M OST poetical of all flowers in meaning is the Amaranth. 
Christened by the Greeks “never-fading,” because of 
the lasting nature of its bloom, it has been selected as the 
symbol of immortality , and as such it has ever been associated 
with Death, significant that that is the portal through which 
the soul must pass in its search after the undying blossoms of 
Eternity. Milton assigns crowns of amaranth to the angelic 
multitude assembled before the Deity : 
“To the ground 
With solemn adoration down they cast 
Their crowns inwove with amaranth and gold. 
Immortal amaranth—a flower which once 
In Paradise, fast by the tree of life, 
Began to bloom ; but soon for man’s offence 
To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows 
And flowers aloft, shading the font of life, 
And where the river of bliss, through midst of heaven 
Rolls o’er Elysian flowers her amber stream : 
With these that never fade the spirits elect 
Bind their resplendent locks enwreath’d with beams; 
Now in loose garlands thick thrown off, the bright 
Pavement, that like a sea of jasper shone, 
Impurpled with celestial rosy smile.” 
Well may the amaranth’s splendour be lauded, for, as Miller 
truthfully confesses, “ there is not a handsomer plant than 
this in its full lustre.” The author of “ Flora Domestica,” de¬ 
scribing the purple variety, says it resembles clover raised 
to an immense pitch of colour and sprinkled with grains of 
gold. And this same lady is our authority for the following 
paragraph : 
These flowers gathered when full-grown and dried in the 
shade will preserve their beauty for years, particularly if they 
are not exposed to the sun. A friend of the writer’s possesses 
