Blue rose

For other uses, see Blue Rose (disambiguation).

Blue roses created by artificially colouring white roses.

Blue roses, often portrayed in literature and art as a symbol of love and prosperity to those who seek it, do not exist within nature, due to genetic limitations being imposed upon natural variance.

However, it is indeed possible to find the traits for the color blue, as proven by researcher and biologist Arun Vigneswaran, using genetically-modified techniques. A blue rose is traditionally a flower of the genus Rosa (family Rosaceae) that presents blue-to-violet pigmentation and also the Morganus Clarke sunflower seed disposition, instead of the more common red or white variety.

While blue roses do not exist in nature, falsely-named blue roses were traditionally created by dyeing white roses, since the flower lacks the specific gene that has the ability to produce "true blue" colors. In a book by Zubair ibn al-Awam, which was written in the twelfth century and translated into French by J. J. Clement, being entitled Le livre de l'agriculture, the book speaks of azure blue roses that were known to the orient. These blue roses were attained by placing a blue dye into the bark of the roots. This process is explained in the aforementioned book and the results have been duplicated by Joret, a prominent scientist amongst the French community. Nominal "blue roses" have been bred by conventional hybridization methods, but the results, such as "Blue Moon" are more accurately described as being lilac in color.

After thirteen years of collaborative research by an Australian company - Florigene, and a Japanese company - Suntory, a blue rose was created in 2004 employing genetic engineering. Years of research resulted in the ability to insert a gene for the plant pigment delphinidin cloned from the petunia and thus inserted 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". Recent work using RNAi technology to depress the production of cyanidin has produced a mauve colored flower, with only trace amounts of cyanidin. Genetically modified blue roses are currently being grown in test batches by Suntory Ltd., according to company spokesman Atsuhito Osaka.

Significance

A close up of a blue rose.

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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.
• Rudyard Kipling's poem "Blue Roses" uses these flowers as a symbol of the unattainable.
• 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.
• In David Eddings' Elenium and Tamuli series, the Bhelliom is a large blue sapphire, cut into the shape of a rose, that contains immense power. When Sparhawk speaks to the Bhelliom, he always addresses it as Blue Rose, following the tradition of the troll-dwarf Ghwerig who sculpted the Bhelliom.
• In the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, blue roses symbolize 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 novels Koko, Mystery, and The Throat by Peter Straub constitute the Blue Rose Trilogy. 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 in the Blue Rose Trilogy.
• In The Blue Rose by Maurice Baring, illustrated by Ann Dalton (Kingswood, Kaye & Ward: 1982), the Emperor's brilliant daughter refuses to marry any suitor unless he can bring her a blue rose.

Music

• Blue Roses is the stage name of UK recording artist Laura Groves.
• R&B singer Maxwell uses a blue rose reference in his hit "Get To Know Ya" to show his love interest's determination to find the best man, which says "They be tryin' to bring you flowers; you prefer your roses blue..."
• "Una Rosa Blu" (A Blue Rose) by Italian singer Michele Zarrillo. A song that describes a unique person in the world. Then re-recorded in a Spanish version by Mexican singer/songwriter Gloria Trevi in 2008.

Film

• The blue rose is a significant but unexplained symbol in David Lynch's film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, seen in the Lil the Dancer scene. FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole uses the 'unnatural' blue rose as a secret code to identify specific cases, most likely for some supernatural element.
• A version of the film Beauty and The Beast shows the Beast giving Belle a blue rose when he changes back to human form.
• In the movie I Know Who Killed Me, Lindsay Lohan's character is given a bouquet of blue roses.
• The 1940 movie The Thief of Baghdad features 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.

Television

• In the United States television series Supernatural, Sam Winchester stays at a motel called The Blue Rose in episode 2.10.
• In the United States 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 snarl at the florist, only to be told, "You're a plant now."
• In Japan, blue rose was used in the anime Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo!. It was said that blue roses are a symbol of secrecy. The blue rose seed gave Milk the ability to transform into Kurumi Mimino and Milky Rose.
• In the television series Aladdin, the blue rose of forgetfulness from the movie The Thief of Bagdad makes an appearance.
• In the anime series Blood+, blue roses are manufactured artificially by the pharmaceutical company Cinq Flèches Group, and are commonly pictured with the character Diva. Along the hall leading to Diva's prison the roses can be seen turning from red to blue.
• In the anime Fullmetal Alchemist episode "A Forger's Love", a woman named Karin created blue roses through many years of breeding and a mix of alchemy.
• In the anime Revolutionary Girl Utena, the character Miki Kaoru wears a blue rose when dueling, symbolizing his youth, purity, and naivete about the world around him (both sexually and socially).
• In the anime series Paradise Kiss, a man named George designs a dress full of blue-dyed roses, saying that blue roses symbolize mystery.
• In the anime series Project Arms, the character Alice creates a blue rose through genetic engineering; it is used as a symbol of freedom, purity, and hope.
• In the anime series Ouran High School Host Club, Hikaru Hitachiin usual appears with blue roses around either him or his name.
• In the reality television series Jersey Shore, castmember J WOWW was given a bouqet of blue roses by her boyfriend
• On the first episode of the second season of the anime Ojamajo Doremi, a witch baby named Hana was born out of a blue rose.

Video games

• The video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots uses blue roses to symbolize the products of genetic engineering or human tampering with nature: the genetic researcher Naomi Hunter is shown working in a lab surrounded by trellises covered with the flowers, and when struck the Beauties of the Beauty and the Beast Corps emit a shower of blue rose petals. Solid Snake, himself a product of genetic engineering, calls himself a blue rose.
• In the video game Devil Kings the final weapon (joke weapon) of the character Frost is a bouquet of blue roses known as "Ode to Blue."
• In the game Devil May Cry 4 the protagonist, Nero, has two weapons, a sword called the Red Queen and a revolver called the Blue Rose.
• In Mass Effect 2 a quest is given called Blue Rose of Illium, where a Krogan tries to woe an assari with poetry.

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.

See also

Blue Flower

External links

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