amaranth. The Greeks believed this flower never died and gave it the name amarantos, “everlasting.” It was said to be a symbol of immortality because the flowers keep their deep blood-red color to the last. John Milton wrote in Paradise Lost: Immortal amarant, 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 Fount of Life . . . |