Amaranthus Caudatus

Amaranthus caudatus has a most peculiar and distinctive flower. Sometimes called Inca wheat on account of its edible leaves and seeds, its most remarkable name, however, is Love-lies-bleeding, for reasons which might be deemed obvious. Paul Gerhardt’s hymn, which John Wesley translated from the German, begins:

Extended on a cursed tree

Be-smeared with dust, and sweat, and blood

See there, the King of Glory see

Sinks and expires the Son of God.

His brother Charles wrote O Love Divine, the third verse of which reads:

Behold him, all ye that pass by,

the bleeding Prince of life and peace!

Come, sinners, see your Saviour die,

and say, "Was ever grief like his?"

Come, feel with me his blood applied:

My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

Truly, Christ bled upon that cross as a real and manifest expression of His stupendous love for sinners. Furthermore, as the Bread of Life, He invites us to feast on Him, who is the very finest of wheat. Amaranthus caudatus is a doubly blessed plant for twice picturing the Lord Jesus.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13