Rubia tinctorum

Name: Rubia tinctorum - Garance des teinturiers
SKU: pda441
Price: 4.90 EUR
Availability: InStock

A rhizomatous perennial used to dye clothing red

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Tags: bouquets, composition florale, fleurs, jardin, longue floraison, perennial, plant, secheresse, soleil, vivace SKU: pda441 Category: Bees and Butterflies, DyeItYourself, Frost Hardy, Rewild

Rubia tinctorum, commonly known as common madder or dyer’s madder, is a perennial climbing herb in the coffee family.

Native to the Mediterranean region and Western Asia, it was once cultivated across Europe for its roots, which yield the famous red dye known as alizarin.

The color is extracted from its roots, known as rhizomes, which are naturally orange-yellow and turn fluorescent red when exposed to oxygen.

The flowers of Rubia tinctorum are small and star-shaped, usually yellow-green, modest in size but numerous. These flowers are pollinated by small insects, mainly bees and flies, and give way to tiny round black berries by late summer. The fruits are not ornamental but serve an ecological function, attracting birds that disperse the seeds.

The foliage of madder is distinctive: narrow, lance-shaped leaves arranged in whorls of four to six around the stem, forming a regular, almost geometric pattern.

The surface of the leaves is slightly rough, another climbing aid, and they remain an attractive, deep green throughout the growing season.

Below ground lies the most valuable part of Rubia tinctorum — its thick, fibrous roots, which can extend over a meter in length.

These roots store the red dye compound alizarin, and for centuries they were harvested, dried, and ground to produce vibrant shades of red, rose, and orange for textile dyeing.

Before the advent of synthetic dyes in the 19th century, madder was one of Europe’s most important dye plants, grown commercially in France, the Netherlands, and the Levant. Even today, natural dyers prize it for its depth of color and historical significance.

👨‍🌾GARDENING TIPS👨‍🌾: Rubia tinctorum

- 🌱 In terms of maintenance, a soft pruning after flowering or in early spring will stimulate new growth
- Harvesting the roots regularly will prevent the plant from ‘invading’ or taking over your garden
- Pair with other dye plants such as Calendula officinalis and Tanacetum vulgare

👩‍🍳DYEING TIPS👩‍🍳

This is a delicate and disciplined art form, so I will refer to those whose tutorials and advice I have followed in the past.

- Celine Philippe – Teinture Sauvage – Dying with plants, a history
- Shepherd Textiles – Step by step dying process with Rubia tinctorum
- Suzanne Dekel – Step by step dying process and comparisons for color intensity

The Tales & The Botany

A piece of cotton dyed with Rubia tinctorum was recovered from the archaeological site at Mohenjo-daro, proving that the practice of dyeing clothing originates at least in the 3rd millennium BCE.

It has been used since then as a vegetable red dye for leather, wool, cotton and silk by many cultures and peoples.

For dye production:

- The roots are harvested after two years
- The outer red layer gives the common hue of the dye, the inner yellow layer can bring another level of refined color.
- The dye is fixed to the cloth with help of a mordant, most commonly alum.

Why and How?

The roots contain the acid ruberthyrin.

By drying, fermenting, or a treatment with acids, this is changed to sugar, alizarin (C₁₄H₈O₄– this is the red dye) and purpurin, which were first isolated by the French chemist Pierre Jean Robiquet in 1826.

In the “Capitulare de villis” (the 8th or 9th century text ordered by Charlemagne to guide the management of royal households), madder is a required plant in the gardens, mentioned as “warentiam”.

Purple dyes are also produced with madder: combining it with indigo, or using an iron mordant to flush out the blue hues.

🌱 Reproductive Biology: Rubia tinctorum

Madder grows best in full sun or light shade and prefers fertile, well-drained soil that stays moderately moist. It is hardy in temperate climates and can tolerate some drought once established, though it performs best with regular watering during dry spells.

Because of its climbing habit, it can be trained over low fences or allowed to form a sprawling groundcover if space permits.

The plant spreads by rhizomes, so it benefits from some containment or annual thinning.

Propagation is simple and can be done either by seed or by division of mature roots. Seeds are slow to germinate, sometimes taking several weeks, while root division offers faster establishment and ensures the new plants carry the same dye quality as the parent.

Roots for dyeing are usually harvested after two or three years of growth, when alizarin concentration is at its peak.

From a botanical standpoint, Rubia tinctorum is a fascinating plant — both ornamental and utilitarian.

It bridges the worlds of botany, history, and art, offering not only an elegant climbing habit and delicate flowers but also a direct link to the ancient craft of natural dyeing that colored the fabrics of civilizations for millennia.

Other Names

Rose madder

Common madder

Dyer’s madder

Garance des teinturiers

Origin:

North America

Similaire

Weight	0,5 kg
Planting Season	March to May, September to November
Exposure	Full Sun
Frost Tolerance	-15°C to -20°C
Soil	Any, Well-Draining
Size	0.3m H x 0.5m W