Rubia

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Rubia is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains Coffea (coffee). It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World.<ref name="WCSP">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The genus and its best-known species are commonly known as madder, e.g. Rubia tinctorum (common madder), Rubia peregrina (wild madder), and Rubia cordifolia (Indian madder).<ref name="Cannon">Template:Cite book</ref>

UsesEdit

File:Naturally dyed skeins.jpg

Skeins of yarn dyed with madder root, Rubia tinctorum

Rubia was an economically important source of a red pigment in many regions of Asia, Europe and Africa.<ref name="StClair">Template:Cite book</ref> The genus name Rubia derives from the Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} meaning "red".

The plant's roots contain an anthracene compound called alizarin that gives its red colour to a textile dye known as Rose madder. It was also used as a colourant, especially for paint, that is referred to as Madder lake. The synthesis of alizarin greatly reduced demand for the natural compound.<ref name="MFAB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Georgia and Armenia, Rubia is used for dying Easter eggs red.

HistoryEdit

Several species, such as Rubia tinctorum in Europe, Rubia cordifolia in India, and Rubia argyi in East Asia, were extensively cultivated from antiquity until the mid nineteenth century for red dye, commonly called madder. Cloth dyed with it has been found on Egyptian mummies. It was the ereuthedanon ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) used for dyeing the cloaks of the Libyan women in the days of Herodotus.<ref>Herod. iv. 189 Template:Full citation needed</ref> It is the erythrodanon ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) of Pedanius Dioscorides, who wrote of its cultivation in Caria,<ref>Dioscorides iii. 160 Template:Full citation needed</ref> and of Hippocrates,<ref>Hippocrates, De morb. mul. i. Template:Full citation needed</ref> and the Rubia of Pliny.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> R. tinctorum was extensively cultivated in south Europe, France, where it is called garance, and the Netherlands, and to a small extent in the United States. Large quantities were imported into England from Smyrna, Trieste, Livorno, etc. The cultivation, however, decreased after alizarin was made artificially.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |

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Madder was employed medicinally in ancient civilizations and in the Middle Ages. In his Natural History, Pliny described it as a diuretic and is capable of treating jaundice and lichen planus.<ref name=":0" /> John Gerard, in 1597, wrote of it as having been cultivated in many gardens in his day, and describes its many supposed virtues,<ref>Herball, p. 960 Template:Full citation needed</ref> but any pharmacological or therapeutic action which madder may possess is unrecognizable. Its most remarkable physiological effect was found to be that of colouring red the bones of animals fed upon it, as also the claws and beaks of birds. This appears to be due to the chemical affinity of calcium phosphate for the colouring matter.<ref>Pereira, Mat. Med., vol. ii. pt. 2, p. 52 Template:Full citation needed</ref> This property was used to enable physiologists to ascertain the manner in which bones develop, and the functions of the various types of cell found in growing bone.<ref name="EB1911"/>