botanicolor

the ethnobotanic
of fibres and dyes

by luminousgreen


Natural Fibers

Natural Dyes

a brief history
indigo blue
indigo extraction
indigo plants
indigo dyeing
dyeing yellow
yellow dyes
dyeing red
red roots
red insects
dyeing green
bark browns
dyeing black
soap and soda
alum, iron, dung

Sources - Quellen
the plant family Rubiaceae includes a variety of dyeplants which yield red, hence the name.


the roots of several trees of the Genus Morinda from South-East Asia, many species of Relbunium from the Americas and from the Madder plants (Rubia sp.) contain Alizarin, Rubin and other red dyestuffs.



Rubia peregrina L.
Rubiaceae
Wild Madder

wild madder is an evergreen crawler which grows as a groundcover in sparsely forested areas of the Mediterrannean. The rootbark yields an orange-red dye which was used prior to Roman times in botanicolor! southern Europe. From the middle ages until the 19th centruy wild madder was used to suppliment and even replace the true dyer's red, Rubia tinctoria.

Rubia peregrina

Rubia tinctoria L.
Rubiaceae
Madder

these plants grow wild from Italy to Central Asia. the farming of madder is a specialized activity, requiring particular earth, one rich in Calcium salts and best, near to the sea. the crop ripens in 3 to five years, the quality and dye-content can vary widely. because today the market for dyestuffs is oriented towards the cheaper, easier to apply synthetic colors, the culture of the red roots has largely dissappeared. Madder red was used for centuries in the fantastic artistry of Turkish carpetmaking.

Rubia tinctoria


Rubia cordifolia L.
Rubiaceae
Indian Madder

Manjeet is the name of the Asian Madder, which is dispersed from the Himalaya to Mongolia and tropical SouthEast Asia. This root was used in ancient China and in the cotton block-printing traditions of India. Indigenous dyers differentiated between Indian Madder and a variant from the Kingdom of Sikkim, which was of finer, superion quality. Manjeet red is known as giving the most spectacular, vibrant red tones of all the Madder varieties.

Rubia cordifolia