Gallant Ophiuchus Mulberry

Old French galant, brave / charming — present-participle of galer (to make merry). As a color modifier, gallant implies a saturated-and-chivalrous-and-confident quality, the deep-rich color of Three-Musketeers and Cyrano-de-Bergerac swashbuckling adventure tradition. Sits at the bold-and-chivalrous end of the grid, parallel to valiant and heroic.

Greek Ὀφιοῦχος, serpent-bearer. As a color modifier, ophiuchus implies a serpent-bearer-and-thirteenth-sign-and-Asclepius quality, the visual register of Hellenic-Ophiuchus-and-Asclepius-serpent-bearer hand-serpent-bearer-and-thirteenth-sign-and-Asclepius Hellenic-Ophiuchus-and-Asclepius-serpent-bearer-and-Rod-of-Asclepius ophiuchus-and-serpent-bearer-and-thirteenth-sign surfaces under Hellenic-Ophiuchus-and-Asclepius-serpent-bearer-and-Rod-of-Asclepius autumn-and-November-and-December serpent-bearer-light. Sits at the modifier-and-zodiac end of the grid, parallel to scorpio and sagittarius in usage.

The genus Morus — the white mulberry (M. alba) feeds silkworms; the black mulberry (M. nigra) bears the deep purple fruit that stains everything it touches. The color refers to a ripe black mulberry: a saturated, slightly red-shifted very deep purple with the slight juiciness of a compound fruit. Cooler than wine, warmer than indigo, with the agricultural weight of a tree that supported the entire Chinese silk industry for two thousand years.