Rubia cordifolia seeds

LATIN NAME: Rubia cordifolia

COMMON NAME: Indian Madder

The Indian madder gave the old world the colour red, the one that would not wash out. The scrambling, prickly, perennial plant carries the whorled, pointed leaves and the small, pale-yellow flowers, to be followed by the small, dark fruits, and the long, red roots below carry one of the great dyes of the old world. The roots have been dug, dried and used for the fine reds of the cloth for a very long time, and the plant is a fine, vigorous presence of the border and the wild patch. It is a plant of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Indian madder has a deep, colourful record in the plant science, studied for the long, red roots and the chemistry of the great dye. The dye compounds of the roots, which have coloured the cloth of the old world, have been studied at length, and it keeps showing up in the work on the dye plants, the natural colourants and the members of the bedstraw family. The whorled leaves and the scrambling, vigorous habit have also made it a fine garden plant, and the Indian madder is a regular subject of the studies of the great red dyes of the old world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The Indian madder is the plant that gave the old world its finest reds. The long, red roots have been dug, dried and used to dye the cloth in the fine, lasting reds of the old world, and the natural colourant remains a steady figure of the dye trade and the craft studios of today. The scrambling, prickly plant is also a fine, vigorous cover of the wild patch and the fence line, and the small, pale-yellow flowers are a quiet sight of the summer. It has been written about in the textile and the botanical papers for the great red dye and the very long record of use, and it is a fine, long-lived plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

The Indian madder is one of the great dye plants of the old world, and the long, red roots have coloured the cloth in the fine, lasting reds for a very long time. The natural colourant remains a steady figure of the dye trade and the craft studios.

To grow the Indian madder from seed, sow the small, hard seeds in pots of moist, free-draining soil, then keep the pots in a bright, open spot with gentle watering, and set the young plants out in the sun. The seedlings thread up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the deep, well-drained ground, the red roots will build through the years.

Heal: bleeding.Stasis.