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Herbal Glossary | Medicinal Glossary | Herbal Preparations | Ayervedic Formulas | Chinese Formulas MadderContents:Common Names | Parts Usually Used | Plant(s) & Culture | Where Found | Medicinal Properties | Biochemical Information
Scientific Names
Common Names
Parts Usually UsedRootstock Description of Plant(s) and CultureMadder is a European herbaceous perennial plant; a cylindrical, reddish-brown, creeping rootstock up to 3 feet long produces several angular prostrate or climbing stem s, as long as 8 feet, which bear lanceolate leaves in whorls of 4-6. The flowers are small and yellow-green, in clusters on spikes which top the stalks. Another variety: Used in Ayurvedic medicine, the Indian madder(R. cordifolia), in Sanskrit the name is Manjishta, Chinese name Ch’ien-ts’ao or Qian cao, has similar properties and uses as European madder (Rubia tinctorum).
Where FoundGrows in the Mediterranean area, native to southern Europe and western Asia.
Medicinal PropertiesAlternative, astringent, deobstruent, diuretic, emmenagogue
Biochemical InformationPurpurin, pseudopurpurin, manjistin, alizarin
Legends, Myths and StoriesMadder is a plant known almost exclusively as a dye plant. The long fleshy root, when dried and milled, yields a variety of colors: red, pink, brown, orange, black, lilac, and purple, depending upon the mordant used. Madder has been raised commercially for its dye value. The trousers of the French soldiers of the 19th century and the head coverings of the Turks, the fezzes, once were dyed red with madder. This striking coloring agent held its own until aniline dyes came along. It is the roots that contain the red coloring--today we know that it is due to anthraquinone derivatives. Madder is one of the oldest coloring agents known to us; it was used in pre-Christian times by the Egyptians, Persians, and Indians. Like many other Mediterranean plants, madder was brought across the Alps by Benedictine monks, and Charlemagne, in his capitulary on the management of his landed estates, called for it to be grown within his domain.
UsesUseful for all problems with the urinary tract, particularly where the urine becomes alkaline. It has been used for rickets, slow-healing broken bones, inflammations, lack of appetite, diarrhea, dropsy, jaundice, blood purifier, and fever. Externally, a decoction of madder can be used for skin problems, especially tubercular conditions of the skin and mucous tissue.
Formulas or DosagesThe rootstock is collected when it is 3 to 6 years old. Infusion: 1 tsp. fresh or dried root to 1 cup water. Take 1 to 1 1/2 cups per day. Decoction: boil 1 1/2 to 2 oz. rootstock in 4 to 6 qt. water for use as a bath additive. How SoldCapsules
Bibliography
Herbal Gardening, compiled by The Robison York State Herb Garden, Cornell Plantations, Matthaei Botanical Gardens of the University of Michigan, University of California Botanical Garden, Berkeley., Pantheon Books, Knopf Publishing Group, New York, 1994, first edition
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Dyer’s madder
The Complete Medicinal Herbal
, by Penelope Ody, Dorling Kindersley, Inc, 232 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, First American Edition, copyright 1993
, by Mannfried Pahlow, Barron's Educational Series, Inc. 250 Wireless Blvd., Hauppauge, NY 11788, 1992Copyright © 1996-2010 Lynn DeVries, all rights reserved.