Brilliant Mass Goldenrod

From the Italian brillante, sparkling — used as a color modifier since the seventeenth century for hues that read as optically active beyond their literal saturation. Brilliant green, brilliant blue: the implication is luminance combined with the slight sparkle of a high-refractive surface. Sits at the bright-bucket center alongside vivid and bright.

Latin missa, Mass-of-the-Eucharist. As a color modifier, mass implies a Eucharistic-and-liturgical-feast quality, the visual register of Roman-Catholic-and-Anglican-Mass Eucharistic-and-liturgical-feast altar-and-vestment-and-incense liturgical-Mass surfaces under Mass-and-Eucharistic-feast altar-candle-and-incense light. Sits at the modifier-and-time end of the grid, parallel to vigil and vesper in usage.

Solidago, the late-summer wildflower of North American meadows whose tall sprays of small yellow flowers signal the end of the growing season. The color refers to the flower head at full bloom: a warm, slightly muted yellow-orange with the matte finish of small clustered florets. Cooler than mustard, deeper than dandelion. The state flower of Kentucky and Nebraska, a pollinator magnet, and the original native dye for early American homespun.