Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AM'A-RANTH, or AM-A-RAN'TUS, n. [Gr. αμαραντος, of α neg. and μαραινω, to decay; so called, it is said, because, when cropped, it does not soon wither.]

Flower-gentle; a genus of plants, of many species. Of these the tricolored has long been cultivated in gardens, on account of the beauty of its variegated leaves. – Encyc.