Rubia tinctorum

Name: Rubia tinctorum
SKU: pda441
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 is a perennial dye plant traditionally used to produce the famous madder red dye.

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 are small and bright yellow, transforming into small black berries by the fall.

Growing from a rhizomatous root system, the aerial parts of R.tinctorum grows up to one meter every summer.

As do the roots – making this a plant that can be invasive if you are not harvesting the rhizomes consistently.

👩‍🍳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

👨‍🌾GARDENING TIPS👨‍🌾:

- 🌱 In terms of maintenance, a soft pruning after flowering or in early spring will stimulate new growth

The Tales:

A piece of cotton dyed with madder 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.