About
Blue rose
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Since roses lack a gene to produce delphinidin, the primary plant pigment that produces true blue flowers, blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses. So-called “blue roses” have been bred by conventional hybridization methods, but the results, such as “Blue Moon” are more accurately described as lilac in color. However, after 13 years of joint research by an Australian company Florigene, and Japanese company Suntory, a blue rose was created in 2004 using genetic engineering. The delphinidin gene was cloned from the petunia and inserted into a mauve-blend rose, the Old Garden Rose ‘Cardinal de Richelieu.’ (a Rosa gallica) However, since the pigment cyanidin was still present, the rose was more dark burgundy than true blue. Further work on the rose using RNAi technology to depress the production of cyanidin produced a very dark mauve plant, with only trace amounts of cyanidin.
Blue roses traditionally signify mystery or attaining the impossible. They are believed to be able to grant the owner youth or grant wishes. This symbolism derives from the rose’s meaning in the language of flowers common in Victorian times.
Mythology
In Slavic mythology one may be granted wishes by bringing a blue rose to Baba Yaga. The Blue Rose was also a symbolist, impressionist influenced art movement in Tsarist Russia in the early 20th Century.
Use in graphic design
The blue rose appears to have held a particular fascination for the designers of printed textiles; at certain times, for example the 1970s, the blue rose far outstripped roses of a more natural colour as a popular design motif.
Since 1970 the blue rose has featured predominantly on bed linen, lingerie, printed flannelette, printed tablecloths, headscarves, handkerchiefs, gros point tapestry designs, packaging and printed toilet paper.
Blue roses also adorn many printed ceramics and have done so since under-glaze blue printing became a common mode of decoration in the 1700s. In the late 1960s Wedgwood produced a range of bone china decorated with blue roses, the so-called “Ice Rose” design.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_rose
Sub rosa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Sub Rosa (disambiguation)
The phrase sub rosa comes from the Latin and means under the rose or confidentiality. The rose was the emblem of the god Horus in ancient Egypt. Later the Greeks and Romans regarded this as god of silence. This originates from a Greek/Roman misinterpretation of an Egyptian hieroglyphic adopting Horus along with Isis and Osiris as a god. The Greeks translated his Egyptian name Har-pa-khered to Harpocrates.
The rose’s connotation for secrecy also dates back to Greek mythology. Aphrodite gave a rose to her son Eros, the god of love; he, in turn, gave it to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to ensure that his mother’s indiscretions (or those of the gods in general, in other accounts) were kept under wraps. In the Middle Ages a rose suspended from the ceiling of a council chamber pledged all present - those under the rose, that is - to secrecy.
In a number of European countries a sub rosa remark is deemed to infer sexual innuendo or at the very least a blow below the belt type remark. More recently sub rosa activities have become a byword for covert operations usually by security services. Originating primarily in the USA this meaning has been gradually spreading to other countries and in particular the United Kingdom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_rosa
