Blue rose

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A blue rose is a flower of the genus Rosa (family Rosaceae) that presents blue to violet pigmentation, instead of the more common red or white. Blue roses do not exist in nature. Faux blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses, since the flower lacks the gene that produces true blue flowers. Nominal "blue roses" have been bred by conventional hybridization methods, but the results, such as "Blue Moon" are more accurately described as lilac in color.

After thirteen years of joint research by an Australian company Florigene, and Japanese company Suntory, a blue rose was created in 2004 using genetic engineering. Years of research resulted in the ability to insert a gene for the plant pigment delphinidin cloned from the petunia and into an Old Garden Cardinal de Richelieu rose. Obtaining the exact hue was difficult because amounts of the pigment cyanidin were still present, so the rose was darker in color than true blue.^[1] Recent work using RNAi technology to depress the production of cyanidin has produced a mauve colored flower, with only trace amounts of cyanidin.^[2] Genetically modified blue roses are currently being grown in test batches by Suntory Ltd., according to company spokesman Atsuhito Osaka. ^[3]

Contents 1 Significance 2 Blue roses in contemporary culture 2.1 Literature 2.2 Film 2.3 Television 3 Use in graphic design 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Significance

In some cultures, blue roses traditionally signify a mystery, or attaining the impossible. They are believed to be able to grant the owner youth or grant wishes. Historically, this symbolism derives from the rose's meaning in the language of flowers common in Victorian times. Elaborate use of this symbolism is adopted by Ken Roberts in his book "A Rich Man's Secret". In Chinese folklore, the blue rose signifies hope against unattainable love. ^[4]

[edit] Blue roses in contemporary culture

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[edit] Literature

• Novalis' unfinished novel Heinrich von Ofterdingen begins with the titular character's dream of a blue flower. This was the inspiration for subsequent use of this symbol in Europe.
• The Glass Menagerie details the life of a character suffering from pleurisy as a teenager. When a former classmate tells her that he interpreted the word as "blue roses", this becomes his nickname for her.
• Holistic interpretations of the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, reveal blue roses as symbolic of the character Lyanna Stark.
• Operating in Tsarist Russia, The Blue Rose was a symbolist art movement of the early twentieth century (with influences from impressionism).
• The mystery novel Koko, and The Throat compose the Blue Rose Trilogy written by Peter Straub. Blue roses are also a key part of one of the events described in his short story Bunny Is Good Bread, which depicts the childhood of Fielding "Fee" Bandolier, one of the characters who appears in the Blue Rose Trilogy.

[edit] Film

• Blue roses are important symbological elements in David Lynch's film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, although their meaning is not always clear.
• A version of the film Beauty and The Beast also shows the Beast giving Belle a blue rose when he changes back to human form.
• The blue rose also appears in the movie I Know Who Killed Me with Lindsay Lohan. Her boyfriend gives her a bouquet of blue roses.
• In the movie The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film), the blue rose is presented as the "Blue Rose of Forgetfulness."
• In the Japanese tokusatsu movie Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love, the gold Kamen Rider Caucasus is often seen with a single blue rose, which he employs as a weapon.
• In Bollywood Feature Film Drona

[edit] Television

• In the US television series Supernatural, Sam Winchester meets an unusual psychic named Ava in episode 2.10. He is staying at a motel called The Blue Rose.
• In the US television series The Simpsons, Marge wants blue roses for her fourth wedding to Homer. She is told they don't exist, but due to some "frantic genetic engineering" she eventually gets them. They are apparently alive and snarl at the florist, only to be told "you're a plant now".

[edit] Use in graphic design

Blue roses 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.

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. 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.

The Blue Rose Poster was a popular psychedelic poster produced for a 1978 Grateful Dead concert.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rudyard Kipling's poem on the lack of blue roses
• Poem and information on blue roses