# Does the phrase 'blood roses' mean anything?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-phrase-blood-roses-mean-anything/541453
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 1, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-phrase-blood-roses-mean-anything/541453 "2010-06-01T02:51:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-phrase-blood-roses-mean-anything/541453/1 "2010-06-01T02:51:59Z")

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I first encountered it as the title of a photo series by Logan White, and I found the phrase intriguing, so I Googled it. It is also, apparently, a Tori Amos song, and the title of two books. But I don’t know the meaning or origin of the phrase. Is a blood rose actually a kind of flower? Is it a euphemism? Is it actually a common phrase or did these people just come up with it or borrow from each other?

Thanks.

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### Author: ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-phrase-blood-roses-mean-anything/541453/2 "2010-06-01T14:56:09Z")

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According to Chelsea Quinn Yarbro’s book “Black Roses” (No doubt one of the books you found on Google) it refers to the skin eruptions which were a common symptom of the Black Plague.

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### Author: ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2010, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-phrase-blood-roses-mean-anything/541453/3 "2010-06-01T18:43:13Z")

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Just a WAG on my part, but yeah this reminds me of how the nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosies supposedly refers to red marks on the skin from the Black Death.

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### Author: ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-phrase-blood-roses-mean-anything/541453/4 "2010-06-01T18:51:59Z")

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> [@'\[cc](#):
>
> ;12522256’]Just a WAG on my part, but yeah this reminds me of how the nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosies supposedly refers to red marks on the skin from the Black Death.

The blood roses thing _may_ be true, but this one’s a myth.