Spartan Hover Hibiscus

Greek Spartiátēs, of Sparta — adjectival suffix referring to the Lacedaemonian warrior city. As a color modifier, spartan implies a saturated-and-disciplined-and-formal quality, the deep-rich color of Spartan-hoplite military-class crimson-and-bronze armor-and-cloak. Sits at the bold-and-formal end of the grid, parallel to austere and stern in tone.

Middle English hoveren, to-remain-suspended. As a color modifier, hover implies a suspended-and-floating-and-hesitant quality, the visual register of kestrel-and-hummingbird-hover hand-suspended-and-floating-and-hesitant kestrel-and-hummingbird-and-dragonfly hovered-and-suspended-and-floating-and-hesitant surfaces under kestrel-and-hummingbird-and-dragonfly heat-shimmer-and-summer-meadow-and-cliff-edge mid-air-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to float and flit in usage.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis — the showy mallow of Pacific gardens, the Hawaiian state flower, the source of the deep red sorrel tea sold across West Africa as bissap. The color refers to a fully open hibiscus petal at midday: a hot, slightly magenta red with the velvet texture of a single-day bloom. By evening the same flower has wilted; by morning it's gone.