| Rubia cordifolia | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Rubiaceae |
| Genus: | Rubia |
| Species: | R. cordifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Rubia cordifolia | |
Rubia cordifolia, known as Indian madder, [1] is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. It has been cultivated for a red pigment derived from roots.
It can grow to 3.5 m in height. The evergreen leaves are usually lanceolate or ovate and are 1.5–4 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm broad, produced in whorls of 4-8 starlike around the central stem. It climbs with tiny hooks at the leaves and stems. The flowers are small (3–5 mm across), with five pale yellow petals, in dense racemes, arranged in a panicle. They consist of several to many flowers, found at both the ends of branches and in the leaf axils. The flowers appear from August to September, followed by small (4–6 mm diameter) red to black berries from October to November. [2] The roots can be over 1 m long, up to 12 mm thick. It prefers loamy soils with a constant level of moisture. Madders are used as food plants for the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Hummingbird hawk moth.[ citation needed ]
Rubia cordifolia was the source of an economically important red pigment in many regions of Asia, Europe and Africa. It was extensively cultivated from antiquity until the mid-nineteenth century. The plant's roots contain an anthraquinone called purpurin (1,2,4-Trihydroxyanthraquinone) that gives it its red colour when used as a textile dye. It was also used as a colourant, especially for paint, that is referred to as Madder lake. The substance was also derived from other species; Rubia tinctorum , also widely cultivated, and the Asiatic species Rubia argyi (H. Léveillé & Vaniot) H. Hara ex Lauener [synonym = Rubia akane Nakai, [3] based on the Japanese Aka (アカ or あか) = red, and ne (ネ or ね) = root]. The invention of a synthesized duplicate, an anthracene compound called alizarin, greatly reduced demand for the natural derivative. [4]
The roots of Rubia cordifolia are also the source of a medicine used in Ayurveda; this is commonly known in Ayurvedic Sanskrit as Manjistha (or Manjista or Manjishta) and the commercial product in Hindi as Manjith. [5]
It is known as btsod (Tibetan : བཙོད་, Wylie : btsod, THL : tsö) in Traditional Tibetan Medicine where it is used to treat blood disorders; spread heat (Tibetan : འགྲམས་ཚད་, Wylie : 'grams tshad, THL : dram tshe), excess heat in the lungs, kidneys, and intestines; reduce swelling; and is a component of the three reds (Tibetan : དམར་གསུམ་, Wylie : dmar gsum, THL : mar sum), a subcompound included in many Tibetan preparations in order to remove excess heat in the blood. [6]
The following properties were described in various cellular and animal models:
Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules and sympetalous actinomorphic flowers. The family contains about 14,100 species in about 580 genera, which makes it the fourth-largest angiosperm family. Rubiaceae has a cosmopolitan distribution; however, the largest species diversity is concentrated in the tropics and subtropics. Economically important genera include Coffea, the source of coffee; Cinchona, the source of the antimalarial alkaloid quinine; ornamental cultivars ; and historically some dye plants.
Rubia is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known species are commonly known as madder, e.g. Rubia tinctorum, Rubia peregrina, and Rubia cordifolia.
Alizarin is an organic compound with formula C
14H
8O
4 that has been used throughout history as a prominent red dye, principally for dyeing textile fabrics. Historically it was derived from the roots of plants of the madder genus. In 1869, it became the first natural dye to be produced synthetically.
Lovage, Levisticum officinale, is a tall perennial plant, the sole species in the genus Levisticum in the family Apiaceae, subfamily Apioideae. It has been long cultivated in Europe, the leaves used as a herb, the roots as a vegetable, and the seeds as a spice, especially in southern European cuisine. Its flavour and smell are reminiscent both of celery and parsley, only more intense and spicy than either. The seeds can be used in the same way as fennel seeds.
Sand mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist tradition involving the creation and destruction of mandalas made from colored sand. Once complete, the sand mandala's ritualistic dismantling is accompanied by ceremonies and viewing to symbolize Buddhist doctrinal belief in the transitory nature of material life.
Chhaang or chhyang is a Nepalese and Tibetan alcoholic beverage also popular in parts of the eastern Himalayas, Yakkha, Limbu, Dura, Newar, Sunuwar, Rai, Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, Tamang, Tharus and Lepcha communities. Among the Lepcha, it is called Chi. It is also known as jaarh in Nepal.
Dosha is a central term in ayurveda originating from Sanskrit, which can be translated as "that which can cause problems", and which refers to three categories or types of substances that are believed to be present conceptually in a person's body and mind. These Dosha are assigned specific qualities and functions. These qualities and functions are affected by external and internal stimuli received by the body. Beginning with twentieth-century ayurvedic literature, the "three-dosha theory" has described how the quantities and qualities of three fundamental types of substances called wind, bile, and phlegm fluctuate in the body according to the seasons, time of day, process of digestion, and several other factors and thereby determine changing conditions of growth, aging, health, and disease.
Sherardia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus contains only one species, Sherardia arvensis, the (blue) field madder, which is widespread across most of Europe and northern Africa as well as southwest and central Asia and Macaronesia. It is also reportedly naturalized in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Kerguelen, Ethiopia, Sudan, southern Africa, Mexico, Costa Rica, South America, Bermuda, Cuba, Haiti and much of Canada and the United States.
Sida cordifolia is a perennial subshrub of the mallow family Malvaceae native to India. It has naturalized throughout the world, and is considered an invasive weed in Africa, Australia, the southern United States, Hawaiian Islands, New Guinea, and French Polynesia. The specific name, cordifolia, refers to the heart-shaped leaf.
1,2,4-Trihydroxyanthraquinone, commonly called purpurin, is an anthraquinone. It is a naturally occurring red/yellow dye. It is formally derived from 9,10-anthraquinone by replacement of three hydrogen atoms by hydroxyl (OH) groups.
Mesua ferrea, the Ceylon ironwood, or cobra saffron, is a species in the family Calophyllaceae native to the Indomalayan realm. This slow-growing tree is named after the heaviness and hardness of its timber. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental for its graceful shape, grayish-green foliage with a beautiful pink to red flush of drooping young leaves, and large, fragrant white flowers. It is the national tree of Sri Lanka, as well as the state tree of Mizoram and state flower of Tripura in India.
Commiphora wightii, with common names Indian bdellium-tree, gugal, guggal, guggul, gugul, or mukul myrrh tree, is a flowering plant in the family Burseraceae, which produces a fragrant resin called gugal, guggul or gugul, that is used in incense and vedic medicine. The species is native to southern Pakistan and western India. It prefers arid and semi-arid climates and is tolerant of poor soil.
Eclipta prostrata, commonly known as false daisy, yerba de tago, guntagalagara aaku, Karisalankanni, and bhringraj, is a species of plant in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across much of the world.
Cheilocostus speciosus, or crêpe ginger, is a species of flowering plant in the family Costaceae. Some botanists have now revived the synonym Hellenia speciosa for this species.
Gentiana scabra, also known as the Japanese gentian or the Rindō Flower, is a species of flowering plant in the Gentian family (Gentianaceae), found in much of East Asia. The flowers bloom in mid-summer, autumn and are blue or dark blue in color.
Eupatorium fortunei is a plant species in the family Asteraceae native from Asia where it is rare in the wild but commonly cultivated. The white to reddish colored flowers and herbage smell like lavender when crushed. In China the plants are used to make fragrant oils.
Rubia tinctorum, the rose madder or common madder or dyer's madder, is a herbaceous perennial plant species belonging to the bedstraw and coffee family Rubiaceae.
Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood—and other biological sources such as fungi.
Dyeing is the craft of imparting colors to textiles in loose fiber, yarn, cloth or garment form by treatment with a dye. Archaeologists have found evidence of textile dyeing with natural dyes dating back to the Neolithic period. In China, dyeing with plants, barks and insects has been traced back more than 5,000 years. Natural insect dyes such as Tyrian purple and kermes and plant-based dyes such as woad, indigo and madder were important elements of the economies of Asia and Europe until the discovery of man-made synthetic dyes in the mid-19th century. Synthetic dyes quickly superseded natural dyes for the large-scale commercial textile production enabled by the industrial revolution, but natural dyes remained in use by traditional cultures around the world.
Rubia peregrina, the common wild madder, is a herbaceous perennial plant species belonging to the bedstraw and coffee family Rubiaceae.
