Plant Story-- Madder, Rubia tinctorum, Famous Dye Plant

Dyer's madder, Rubia tinctorum (madder and coffee family, Rubiaceae) was the base of most red cloth in Eurasia for millennia. 

dyer's madder, Rubia tinctorum

You dig up the roots, chop them small, fresh or dry, and heat them for an hour or so in nearly boiling water. Add a mordant like alum (aluminum salts) or iron salts, and you can get a rich red or orange on most natural fibers. Historically, madder was often overdyed with a very expensive dye, such as murex red, so that it had the look of a very rare dye, while using a minimum amount of the very expensive dye.

wool dyed red with madder Rubia tinctorum

Madder is native to the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, but was spread across Eurasia prehistorically. There are about 80 species in the genus Rubia, most that produce a red dye, so in parts of Asia people used local madders for dyes. Dyer's madder, Rubia tinctorum, dominated European dyeing. It came to the Americas with the earliest settlers.

madder Rubia tinctorum

Dyer's madder is easy to grow in most temperate climates. It spreads vigorously from rhizomes. Generally it is worth waiting two or more years to harvest the roots for dyeing; they are bigger and contain more of the dye. Traditionally they were harvested in the fall. First quality madder was called crap or the best crap. (From old German, where Krapp is still the word for madder. The term crapper for toilet and crap for shit are 1900s American slang). Some dyes must have been a surprise to the people who discovered them. The bright orange roots of madder clearly suggest trying them for dye.

fresh madder roots

The word madder comes from an old Germanic word for "dye plant." The Latin name, Rubia tinctorum, means "dyer's red," rubia being red, tinctorum of dye or dyers. 

sprawling branch of madder Rubia tinctorum

Perhaps you noticed that madder spreads easily. Yes, it is a garden thug. It will energetically move into adjacent flower beds. However, despite producing fruit, mine doesn't self-seed, so it is only neighboring flower beds that it invades and smothers. Madder has tiny teeth all along its stems, so working near it without gloves will cut up your hands and arms. 

The flowers are small and yellowish. The fruit are small balls, becoming blue-black when ripe.

flowers, madder Rubia tinctorum
green fruit in lower right, ripe black fruit above the word
Rubia

You wouldn't grow it for its flowers, but is a very satisfying dye plant. A cup or so of roots in a gallon of water will produce an intense color, especially on silk and wool. Whether you easily get red or orange is a function of the dye bath conditions and maybe the strain of madder. With my western water, rather alkaline, beautiful brick red-oranges are easy, truer reds more difficult. All madder starts off with a lot of yellow from secondary dyes in the roots. The first use of the dyebath usually takes them out and the next things dyed are more orange or redder. It is an art. 

wool dyed orange with madder

Madder roots' chemical composition includes five or more dye molecules, allowing a skilled dyer to produce colors from golden yellow to crimson to dark rust from madder. In addition, madder-dyed cloth can be overdyed or madder dye combined with other plant dyes to produce pinks, oranges, purples, browns, and blacks. A rainbow in the form of one easily-grown plant. 

cloth dyed with madder Rubia tinctorum
Cloth woven into a plaid with alternating stripes of wool and cotton, 
to show how the two fibers take up dye differently: the brighter red is wool.

Comments and corrections welcome.

References

Cardon, D. 2007. Natural Dyes. Archetype Publications. London

Kathy Keeler, A Wandering Botanist

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