560 



DYE PLANTS 



Nature of Product and how 

 obtained. 



exudes abundantly 

 from the stem. 



IMPORTANT DYE PLANTS 



Annatto. See Minor Product* oj Ceylon. 



Henna; Tree-Mignonette; Marithondi, T. (Lawsonia alba. 

 Lythraceae). A deciduous much-branched shrub, indigenous to 

 Western India, Persia, etc., and to the dry region of Ceylon ; com- 

 monly cultivated throughout Egypt, Persia, India, etc., for its small 

 oval leaves, which yield the "henna" dye, also as a garden hedge 

 plant. A crop of leaves is reaped in the second year from planting, 

 two crops a year being afterwards obtained for many successive 

 years. At each cutting about 9 inches are taken from the top 

 shoots, an acre thus yielding about 20 maunds of dry leaves a year. 

 The leaves are dried and reduced to a powder which, made into a 

 paste with water, is very commonly used by Mohammedan, and 

 to some extent Hindu, women as a cosmetic for staining the 

 eye-brows, finger-nails, hands, feet, etc., a dull orange-yellow ; also 

 used sometimes for dyeing the hair a red colour. This use of 

 henna dates back from very ancient times. 



Indigo. "Nil-awari," S. A blue dye obtained from several 

 species of Indigo/era, chiefly / arrccta, I. siiiuatraiia, I. anil and 

 /. guatamalensis. All are shrubby plants, annual or perennial, 

 2 to 4 ft. high, belonging to the Leguminous family. Numerous 

 species occur in a wild state in Ceylon up to about 2,000 feet, but 

 chiefly in the dry country. India and Java are now almost the 

 only indigo-producing countries. Owing to the introduction of 

 synthetic indigo in 1880, the cultivation of the natural article has 

 become unprofitable in many localities, and consequently largely 

 abandoned. Of late, however, the industry appears to have some- 

 what recovered, the natural indigo, which is claimed to have better 

 dyeing properties than the synthetic, being preferred by many 

 manufacturers. More profitable species of Indigofera have also 

 been discovered in recent years, yielding a much larger percentage 



