Inside the Box: Immortal Flower

By Richard I. Gibson
Translation by Siwen Liu

The Immortal Flower in the Wah Chong Tai Mercantile is from the closing of the store in the 1940s when Charlie Bovey bought the contents and took everything to Nevada City. Most of the boxes and packages still hold their original contents. Loan from Montana Heritage Commission. MW L2010.01.338

莧仙

The interpretation of the label on this box is “Immortal Flower.” Immortal is certainly the second character; the first leaves something to the imagination. And “Immortal Flower” has different connotations in various traditional Asian cultures, and may refer to more than one plant.


The most likely candidate is probably the Amaranth, a widespread plant used by Incas and ancient Greeks as well as in traditional Chinese preparations. In China, the leaves and stems are used as a stir-fry vegetable, or in soups, and are believed to enhance eyesight. Amaranth flowers were used by the Hopi of southwestern North America for dyes.

Butterfly pea

Another possible candidate is Clitoria ternatea, the butterfly pea, although it is native to tropical zones and would not have been grown commonly in much of China. It’s a herbaceous perennial with bright blue flowers, used to dye foodstuffs such as rice in Burmese, Malay, Thai, and Khmer (Cambodian) cuisine. As a traditional Ayurvedic medicinal, its use has been as an anti-stress agent, anti-depressant, and sedative. Some scientific studies suggest meaningful anti-stress and anti-convulsion activity is indeed present in chemicals derived from the plant.

Amaranth

Whatever plant it is, some sources suggest Immortal Flower has a role against diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, toothache, and constipation.

Photos: Artifact photos by Richard I. Gibson. Red-root Amaranth (A. retroflexus), from Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885 (public domain, via Wikipedia). Butterfly pea photo via Wikipedia (public domain).

Amaranth ; Butterfly pea