Lustrous Glare Goldenrod

From the Latin lustrare, to illuminate — used as a color word since the seventeenth century for hues with the slight specular shine of polished metal or silk. Lustrous green, lustrous gold: the implication is moderate-to-high saturation combined with surface reflectivity. Sits at the bright-and-glossy corner alongside gleaming.

Middle English glaren, to-shine-brightly. As a color modifier, glare implies a harsh-and-bright-and-overwhelming quality, the visual register of desert-noon-and-snow-field-glare hand-harsh-and-bright-and-overwhelming desert-noon-and-snow-field-and-salt-flat glared-and-harsh-and-bright-and-overwhelming surfaces under desert-noon-and-snow-field-and-salt-flat overhead-sun-and-snow-blind-and-bleached harsh-noon-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to flash and blaze 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.