Rubia cordifolia Seeds | Indian Madder
LATIN NAME: Rubia cordifolia
COMMON NAME: Indian Madder
Plant Profile
Indian Madder (Rubia cordifolia) is a perennial in the bedstraw family. The Indian madder gave old world colour red, one that would not wash out. Roots have been dug, dried and used for fine reds of cloth for a very long time, and plant is a fine, vigorous presence of border and wild patch. It is a plant of open, sunny, well-drained ground. When it flowers, local bees and other insects make good use of it. Not many plants ask so little and repay so much.
Science & Biotechnology
Botanists studying the bedstraw family regularly include Rubia cordifolia in comparative work, and the species also appears in horticultural trials aimed at gardeners and growers. The Indian madder has a deep, colourful record in plant science, studied for long, red roots and chemistry of great dye. Raising it from seed today is a matter of ordinary good practice rather than specialist skill.
Uses & Benefits
Indian Madder brings genuine presence to the garden and earns its keep across the growing season. The Indian madder is plant that gave old world its finest reds. Long, red roots have been dug, dried and used to dye cloth in fine, lasting reds of old world, and natural colourant remains a steady figure of dye trade and craft studios of today. Scrambling, prickly plant is also a fine, vigorous cover of wild patch and fence line, and small, pale-yellow flowers are a quiet sight of the summer. After the first season it asks for very little beyond a place that suits it.
Madder root, Qian Cao, dyed the ancient world red with alizarin and remains a classical Chinese herb for cooling blood and stopping bleeding; its anthraquinones are actively studied.
Growing from Seed
Indian Madder grows readily from seed. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. Shift the seedlings into small pots as soon as they can be handled, and give them bright light until planting-out time.
Our Take
Once established, Indian Madder largely looks after itself. After establishment, care settles into an easy routine.
Related Reading
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