Heliotrope (color)

Heliotrope is a pink-purple tint that is a representation of the colour of the heliotrope flower.

The first recorded use of heliotrope as a color name in English was in 1882.^[2]

Variations[]

The color heliotrope gray is displayed at right. The first recorded use of heliotrope gray as a colour name in English was in 1912.^[4]

At right is displayed the colour old heliotrope.

Another name for this colour is old helio.

The first recorded use of old helio as a colour name in English was in 1926.^[5]

The color has been widely referenced as a characterization, the colour of key plot objects, or as flavor text in many works:
- Heliotrope was a popular colour reference of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, script writers of Hancock's Half Hour.
- In James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, "heliotrope" is the answer to the Maggies' riddle.^{[clarification needed]} Throughout the chapter, the word "heliotrope" is disguised a number of times, hidden either in anagrams, riddles, puns, or obscure allusions.
- In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the Polyjuice Potion brewed in order to disguise Hermione Granger as Mafalda Hopkirk is described as having a "pleasant heliotrope colour."
The periorbital purplish discoloration occurring in dermatomyositis is called the "Heliotrope rash" after the colour.
Heliotrope was among the handful of "half-mourning" colours worn by Victorians during the last stage of mourning.^[6]
"Heliotrope" is the title of the fourth track on At the Drive-In's 1999 EP Vaya.
Heliotrope was referenced as a health status condition of the service droid Kryten in the Red Dwarf Series V episode Terrorform.
"Heliotrope Bouquet" is a slow drag two step by Scott Joplin (with contributions from Louis Chauvin) composed in 1907.

^ The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called heliotrope in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the colour heliotrope is displayed on page 131, Plate 54, Color Sample C10.
^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Colour, New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill Page 196; Color Sample of Heliotrope: Page 131 Plate 54 Colour Sample C10
^ Of the various tones of Heliotrope Gray shown on the indicated web page of the ISCC-NBS colour list, the color displayed in the colour box above, colour sample #227, matches most closely the colour called Heliotrope Gray in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul, A Dictionary of Colour, New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill; the colour Heliotrope Gray is displayed on page 111, Plate 44, Color Sample C3.
^ Maerz and Paul, A Dictionary of Colour, New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill, Page 196; Colour Sample of Heliotrope Gray: Page 111, Plate 44, Colour Sample C3
^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill Page 200; Color Sample of Old Helio: Page 113 Plate 45 Color Sample J9
^ Mourning Fashion