Madder (T)

9. Madder Rubia tinctoria ( T)

Easily grown from root cuttings. Perennial

Species of Rubia are native to Europe, Asia, the Americas.

Used as medicine and dyestuff in all of the world’s major ancient civilisations. Traditional dye plant and important trade item with a long history of cultivation in Europe, Asia and Africa. Cloth dyed with madder has been identified on Egyptian mummies and remains from madder dyeing (from which colour could still be extracted in the late 20th century) have been found in archaeological excavations of a dye shop in Viking age levels in York. Madder dyed textiles were excavated from a  medieval site in Perth, and on other British textiles from the 9th – 11th centuries. Recorded imports of madder to Scotland go back to the 11th century. Madder was grown in Britain in the 10th and 11th centuries but the imported dyestuff became dominant as demand increased. In 1649 an Orkney merchant bequeathed a large quantity of madder for dyeing. In 1733 a gardening writer Phillip Miller advocated that the crop could be re-introduced to Britain if the rotation systems of the Dutch were used. The Dublin and Highland Societies were also promoting schemes to encourage home production of madder at around the same time. The Scots Magazine reported in 1757 that an award had been given to a Dalkeith surgeon for growing and preparing ‘the greatest qualtity of madder, not under 10 pounds weight, dressed and cured’. As well as the textile dye known as Rose madder, a  paint colourant known as Madder lake was made. Because the bones of animals fed on madder become red, it was used to discover the way bones develop and the functions of different types of cells in bone.

Dye: One of the traditional ‘grands teints’. The dye compound alizarin is found in the roots, the concentration peaks in plants that are around 3 years old. It gives shades of red.