"Puce" color
Cynthia Mueller (Sun, 19 Sep 2004 08:30:48 PDT)

Dear All,

Let's dwell on what "puce" means as a color. There some bulbs
described with puce-colored blooms, altho I can't really recollect which
ones just now. "Puce" is supposedly from the Old French word for fleas,
originally from the Latin. At dictionary.reference.com there are three
separate entries for puce, with three different color foci:

A deep red to dark grayish purple
Of a dark brown or brownish purple color
a color varying from dark purplish brown to dark red

When I look at fleas, I just see very dark brown or black, not a color
readily found in nature in flowers! And on paint swatches, I'm sure
I've seen puce in the past as a sort of dirty mauve grey, not dark at
all.

Cynthia Mueller