Definition of "amarant"

With ſolemn adoration down they [the angels] caſt Thir Crowns inwove with Amarant and Gold; Immortal Amarant, a Flour which once In Paradiſe, faſt by the Tree of Life Began to bloom, but ſoon for mans offence To Heav'n remov'd where firſt it grew, there grows, And flours aloft ſhading the Fount of Life, […]

1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 351–357

Thouſands of flow'rs their ſilken webs unfold, / Amarants, immortal amarants ariſe, / Theſe beaming bright with vegetable gold, / And theſe with azure, theſe with Tyrian dyes; […]

1760, [James] Scott, Heaven: A Vision, Cambridge: Printed by J. Bentham, printer to the University, for W. Thurlbourn & J. Woodyer; […], stanza VII, page 8

Such vegetable amarants have a fair content of protein and are rich in Vitamins A and C, as well as in minerals; but they contain also slight amounts of anti-nutritional factors, especially oxalates and nitrates. These leaf-producing amarants are adapted to many different ecological environments.

1989, Heinz Brücher, “Farinaceous Plants”, in Useful Plants of Neotropical Origin and Their Wild Relatives, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, section 1 (Amaranthus spp.), page 54