KTHOI-KAN MM.DKi: 



RUBIA 

 T1HCTORUM 



eastward and southward to Ceylon. It U a very variable plant, but there are 



two easily recognised j.iv . s: ^j) fm r4tt*i i*. p,op*r. with loaves live. Two FOTBM. 



i liioo-oostato, veins impressed and surface rough or limpid . (2) **<*. 

 leaves three, rarely five-cosUte, veins not impressed and surface smooth. Tho 

 l.at.-r i- ih" ri.-li.-r .a madder ;.K-. 



/// r >t ..l.t.imud from thin plant u.i formerly mm-li employed by the Bitnotioa of 

 en of India in dyeing coarse <-,tt.., ,, M hades of scarlet. u **- 



u <>r n i. mve. It has been largely displaced \>\ . . >. but \<- 



\od for apodal purporiOH or n ities. The method of dyeing 



! is inn, I, ill,- sumo all over India. th colour being produced by stooping 

 h in an infusion of the stem or root-chips, subsequent to being mordanted 



with a solution of alum. In former tunes madd, . liderably 



tivo medicine, but to-day its uses arc restricted to a 



..ils. 'I'll,- trad,- in madder has for years been gradually declining, due 

 to the substitution of artificially prepared alizarin and other aniline dye*. The 

 imports of madder and man) it into India amount**! in 1885-0 to a value of Imports. 



-.n.'ts ; m lsS'j-90 to Rs. 29.4HS ; in 1!(X)-1 to Rs. 16,562 ; in 1904 



in l'.H>5-6 to Rs. 1 1,305 ; and in 1906-7 to Rs. 5,405. The pnn 

 supplying country is Persia, and Bombay the importing province. 



The exports have almost disappeared, though small quantities still are Exports. 



orted, viz., in 1904-5, 249 cwt., valued at Rs. 3,277 ; in 1905-0, I'll 

 <\\t.. valued at Rs. 2,538; and in 1906-7, .' K*. 1,500. [Cf. 



The Bower Manuscript (Hoernle, transl.), 1893-7, 104, 107 ; .Mil burn, Or.Comm., 

 1813, ii., 218 ; Fharmacog. 2nd., ii., 231-2 ; Banerjei, Agri. Cuttaek, 1893, 200 ; 

 Ann. Rept. 2nd. Mitf. (Induet Sec.), 1894-5, 26, 34 ; Lawrence, Valley of Kash- 

 1895, 68, 92; Monographs, Dyes and Dyeing: Duncan, Atfam, 1896, 44, 

 45 ; Hadi, U. Prov., 1896, 78 ; Banerjei, Bengal, 1896, 25 ; Russell, Cent. Prov., 

 1896, 7, 17-8 ; Rept. and Prog. Coll. 2nd. Mus., Cole, and Imp. Inst., 1895-6, 

 71-3; Imp. Inst. Tech. Repts., 1903, 211 ; Hosie, Rept. on Ssu'ch'uan, China, 

 1904, No. 5, 42-3, 48.] 



R. sikklmensls, Kurt. Themoyum. A handsome creeper of the Eastern Hima- Naga 

 lava in Sikkim and Bhutan, at 2,000 to 5,000 feet, Mishmi Mountains of Upper Madder. 

 Assam, Manipur and the Naga hills. 



This species is the source of the brilliant red dye used by the tribes in the Hmlr Dy. 

 Naga hills and Manipur to dye both cotton and hair, the latter mostly human, 

 employed to ornament their spears, etc. It is probable that the bulk of the 

 madder plant of Assam is derived from this species, and that a considerable 

 portion at least of the dye exported from Sikkim may also have the same 

 origin. [Cf. Watt, Cat. Calc. Inter. Exhib., 1883, ii., 55; Porkin and Hummel, 

 Colour. Principle of R. sikkimensis, in Trans. Chem. Soc., 1893 ; Duncan, I.e. 

 40-7.] 



R. tinctorum, Linn. European Madder, bacho, manyunth, rodang, et< 

 climbing herb with perennial roots, cultivated in Kashmir, Bind and throughout 

 Afghanistan ; distributed westwards from Persia to Spain, cultivated or wild. 

 De Candolle considers its original habitat to be west temperate Asia and South- 

 Eost Europe. 



The dried and ground roots formerly constituted one of the most valued of 

 dye-stuffs, both in Europe and Asia, but the natural dye has been almost entirely 

 replaced by artificial coal-tar derivatives. In the Memoirs of the Emperor Baber 

 (Leyden and Erskine, transl., 148) we read that madder was largely cultivated in 

 Ghazni and was carried thence all over Hindustan. To-day the plant is cultivated 

 to a small extent, the best-known qualities of the dye (in European commerce) 

 being Avignon, then Dutch, Alsatian, Levant (or Turkish madder) and Italian. 

 It is propagated either from seed or by root-cuttings. The roots are allowed to 

 remain for three or even five years before being removed for use. In India, 

 cultivation is carried on chiefly in Kashmir and in some parts of Sind. The Indian CulUrsUoB. 

 methods of dyeing employed with this species do not differ from those used with 

 the indigenous n. roi-<n folia. Both in India and Europe the plant is employed 

 aa fodder for cattle, and in Sind camels are said to be specially fond of it. [Cf. 

 Bentham, Rev. of Targioni-Tozzetti, in Journ. Hort. Soc., 1855, ix., 150-1 ; De 

 Candolle, Orig. Cult. Plants, 1882, 41-2 ; Thorpe, Diet. Appl. Chem., 1899, ii., 

 480-6 ; Rawson.Gardner and Laycock, Diet, of Dyes, Mordants, etc., 1901, 22S-7 ; 

 Wiesner, Die Rohst. des Pflanzenr., 1903, ii., 538-48 ; Goodwin (Queen's Univer*., 

 Toronto), Madder and Indigo, reprint in 2nd. Planting and Qard., Feb. 28, 

 1903, 203-4 ; Joret, Les PI. dans ISAntiq., etc., 1904, ii., 348.] 



927 



European 

 Madder. 



:' I.-!'.- I. .... 



.-.: . 



