Red Coral

Red coral, or precious coral, is Corallium, a genus of some thirty-one marine corals prized for their hard skeleton, coloured from pale pink to deep red by carotenoid pigments. The animals grow as small leafless bushes up to a metre tall on rocky, dim sea floors; the best-known species, C. rubrum, lives mainly in the Mediterranean, and others off Japan and Taiwan. The skeleton is matte until polished, soft enough to be cut as cabochons or beads, and has been made into jewellery since antiquity: it has been found in ancient Egyptian and prehistoric European burials. It was traded from the Mediterranean to India, Romans hung branches round children's necks against harm, and in Italy it was worn against the evil eye into the twentieth century. Overfishing has thinned shallow Mediterranean colonies. Cunningham gives coral to Venus, to Water, and to Isis and Venus, and lists healing, protection, peace and wisdom among its powers. Worn in plain sight it guards against the evil eye, accidents and theft, and given to a child it is said to secure their health. He also says it confers courage, brings peaceful sleep and dispels nightmares, and that coral earrings and red or pink candles ringed with coral were used for love.