Madder – ingredients, effects and application

Madder was primarily used for red dyeing, but has also been known as a medicinal plant since ancient times. The root of madder was considered a remedy for bladder and kidney stones, which is plausible due to its urinary-promoting effect. The plant was also known as a remedy for gout and rheumatism. Today it is not used as a medicinal plant because of its harmful ingredients.

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Rubia tinctorum
• Common names: Madder, Dyer's Madder, Dyer's Red
• Family: Rubiaceae
• Distribution: Originally Mediterranean, southern Europe and western Asia
• Plant parts used: rhizome, leaves, fruits
• Ingredients: Dyes di- and trioxyanthraquinone glycosides (alizarin, ruberthyric acid, lucidin, pseudopurpurin), rubichloric acid, citric acid, tannins, pectins, sugar, protein, fatty oil
• Traditional areas of application: historically diverse use, including to promote urination and bile secretion, for kidney and bladder stones, anemia, gout, rickets, bone pain, rheumatic complaints, jaundice, liver diseases

Note: Madder is no longer approved as a herbal medicine in Central Europe due to carcinogenic ingredients!

Madder – An Overview

• Madder has been used for dyeing in the east of the Mediterranean for thousands of years.
• The dye was previously made from the rootstock of Rubia tinctorum. This was first cleaned and then ground.
• Colored varnish made with madder is known as madder varnish or also as bed top varnish, madder purple, Rembrandt varnish, Rubens red, Turkish red or Van Dyck red. Today it is only produced synthetically.
• Hippocrates already knew madder as a medicinal plant. This and other ancient authors recommended it as a medicine to promote urination and for many ailments.
• Today madder is no longer recommended as a medicinal plant because its ingredients are said to be carcinogenic.
• Madder went wild in many places in Central Europe. In Central Europe, the Mediterranean perennial persists permanently, especially in warmer regions, such as the Rhineland. There, madder grows in fields, in vineyards, on rubble heaps and along roadsides.

ingredients

The dye components of madder are anthraquinones, which protect the plant against fungi in the soil and were also used in traditional medicine (see review, 2002).

The most important colors and ingredients of madder are di- and trihydroxyanthraquinone glycosides, in particular alizarin (1,2-dihydroxyanthraquinone), which is the hydrolysis product of ruberythric acid, but also lucidin and pseudopurpurin. The coloring content of dried madder root reaches around 5 to percent.

The anthraquinone dyes are suspected of being carcinogenic.

Madder also contains small amounts of plant acids such as rubichloric acid and citric acid, tannins, pectins, sugar, protein and fatty oil.

Medical effect

In an in vitro study (2017), an Indian research team examined the effect of a madder extract on the isolated aorta of rats. They concluded that there was a positive influence on the activity of the heart muscle and suspected that madder increased the sensitivity of muscle cells to calcium. In addition, madder could have a protective effect on the aorta, probably against harmful cell changes caused by a high concentration of glucose.

An Egyptian study (2020) found that a methanol extract of Rubia tinctorum showed significant effects in reducing body weight and lowering blood sugar. In addition, the extract would improve the structure of the liver tissue and have a positive effect on liver functions. Biochemical components of madder have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.

In the past, madder was not only used as a dye, but was also a versatile medicinal plant. Today, dye varnish is only produced synthetically and its use as a medicinal plant is strongly discouraged. (Image: spline_x/stock.adobe.com/own editing heilpraxis.de)

History of medicine and folk medicine

Madder has been used since ancient times for dyeing and also as a medicine. Important doctors of antiquity, including Hippocrates, Galen and Dioscorides, recommended the rhizome and leaves as medicine.

Dioscorides saw the root as a medicine against jaundice, sciatica and paralysis. The juice of the leaves was useful for him to treat animal bites. According to him, the fruit should be good for softening the spleen.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, the rhizome was used against many ailments: against problems with the liver, kidneys and spleen, to expel urine and induce vomiting, but especially against jaundice. The term “jaundice” included diseases that are accompanied by yellowing of the skin and mucous membranes, caused, for example, by hepatitis, liver tumors or liver cirrhosis.

Madder in modern medicine

Early modern doctors referred to the classics of Roman-Greek antiquity. Tabernaemontanus discussed this in his herbal book in 1731: “Pliny writes that this herb is so powerful against jaundice that when it clings to the sick person and he just looks at it, it is said to drive away the jaundice.”

According to Tabernaemontanus, madder is a remedy for diseases of the spleen and liver, stabilizes the bones, and helps against rickets, intestinal weakness, jaundice and irregular periods.

Other authors of the 18th century also mentioned madder for additional indications:

• respiratory diseases,
• suffering from the urinary tract,
• cough and hoarseness,
• Congestion of the respiratory tract and excessive secretion of the mucous membranes,
• anemia,
• hip pain,
• Gout,
• intermittent fever,
• blood clotting disorders,
• Bone tuberculosis.

In the early 20th century, urologists viewed the root as an effective medicine against kidney and bladder stones, particularly those made from “phosphoric lime.” A course of madder was considered initial therapy in order to avoid surgery if possible.

In the 1920s, madder root was considered a remedy for rickets and intestinal weakness; it was said to relieve the pain of tuberculous intestinal ulcers and to soothe the intestines of tuberculous diarrhea. In 1935, a powder made from the root was a recipe for kidney stones.

Today the dried root is still used in homeopathy, for example for kidney stones. Otherwise, madder is no longer recommended as a medicinal plant because its ingredients are said to be carcinogenic.

Madder madder in cultural history

Before the dye alizarin was produced synthetically, madder was an important plant for dyeing textiles red. It has been cultivated for this purpose since ancient times – on a large scale in the Mediterranean region. Madder root also reached Central Europe as a trade good.

In many places the plant went wild. Madder is one of the oldest known dyes known to mankind. Ancient Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Romans used the plant's rhizome to produce dyes for various shades.

Madder culture was very advanced in Egypt, as Pliny the Elder mentioned. The color of the kings was purple (red-violet) – a mixture of red and blue. Purple was obtained from sea snails and was extremely laborious to produce, making purple the most expensive color. Madder offered an alternative here: blue-colored wool was over-dyed with madder, which also produced purple tones.

Dyeing with madder became a highly developed craft, the exact methods of which were kept a secret by the dyers. Although it is quite easy to color with the rootstock, the result is influenced by numerous factors. This includes the concentration of the dyes in the rootstock as well as the outside temperature or the respective metal salts used to stain the material.

Metal salts form intensely colored complexes with the dyes, which are also known as madder varnishes. The (later synthetically) produced varnishes are also known as bed top varnish, madder purple, Rembrandt varnish, Rubens red, Turkish red or Van Dyck red.

Unprofessional work or poor quality roots often resulted in shades such as orange or brick red. This was undesirable and could have been achieved more cheaply using other means.

Madder dyed cotton was best. This was grown in the Eastern Mediterranean and in Egypt and was rarely available in Central Europe. The shade that madder achieved on cotton was known in the early modern period as “Turkish red.” This was because the producers worked in the Ottoman Empire, Persia and India.

The finished dyed textiles then reached Central Europe as a sought-after commodity. To produce such high-quality clothing in “Turkish Red” more than a dozen work steps were necessary and the entire manufacturing process took several months. It was only in the 18th century that knowledge of this type of production reached the regions of Central Europe.

However, madder was already dyed in Central Europe in the Middle Ages. Even Charlemagne called for people to grow the plant. It is known that Benedictine monks spread madder north of the Alps. Centers of madder cultivation were Zeeland in what is now the Netherlands and Alsace. Speyer became famous for madder dyeing and the dye obtained there was given the name “Speyer Red”.

Madder was also used commercially in Spanish Castile, Hungary and French Provence. In northern Central Europe, use was only known to a lesser extent – especially in Braunschweiger Land.

Alsatian madder, the “Hagenau red” made a significant contribution to Strasbourg’s economic boom. Europe became a leader in madder production in the early modern period.

During the revolution in 1789, the madder fields were initially left fallow. Louis-Philippe I (reign 1830-1848) later ordered the…