Rubia cordifolia, often known as common madder or Indian madder, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. It has been cultivated for a red pigment derived from roots.

Common names of this plant include manjistha in Sanskrit, Marathi, Kannada and Bengali, majith in Hindi and Gujarati, བཙོད་ in Tibetan, tamaralli in Telugu, manditti in Tamil.

Description

It can grow to 1.5 m in height. The evergreen leaves are 5–10 cm long and 2–3 cm broad, produced in whorls of 4-7 starlike around the central stem. It climbs with tiny hooks at the leaves and stems. The flowers are small (3–5 mm across), with five pale yellow petals, in dense racemes, and appear from June to August, followed by small (4–6 mm diameter) red to black berries. The roots can be over 1 m long, up to 12 mm thick. It prefers loamy soils with a constant level of moisture. Madders are used as food plants for the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Hummingbird hawk moth.

Uses

Rubia cordifolia was an economically important source of a red pigment in many regions of Asia, Europe and Africa. It was extensively cultivated from antiquity until the mid nineteenth century. The plant’s roots contain an anthraquinone called purpurin (1,2,4-Trihydroxyanthraquinone) that gives its red colour as a textile dye It was also used as a colourant, especially for paint, that is referred to as Madder lake. The substance was also derived other species; Rubia tinctorum, also widely cultivated, and the Asiatic species Rubia argyi (H. Léveillé & Vaniot) H. Hara ex Lauener [synonym = Rubia akane Nakai, based on the Japanese Aka (アカ or あか) = red, and ne (ネ or ね) = root]. The invention of a synthesized duplicate, an anthracene compound called alizarin, greatly reduced demand for the natural derivative.

• Iwatsuki, K., T. Yamazaki, D. E. Boufford and H. Ohba. 1993. Flora of Japan IIIa: 232.
• “Material Name: madder”. material record. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. November 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2009-01-01.

The roots of Rubia cordifolia are also the source of a medicine used in Ayurveda; this is commonly known in Ayurvedic Sanskrit as Manjistha (or Manjista or Manjishta) and the commercial product in Hindi as Manjith.

• S. Pathania; R. Daman; S. Bhandari; B. Singh; Brij Lal (2006). “Comparative Studies of Rubia cordifolia L. and its Commercial Samples”. Ethnobotanical Leaflets (11): 179–188. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07.

It is known as btsod (Tibetan: བཙོད་, Wylie: btsod, THL: tsö) in Traditional Tibetan Medicine where it is used to treat blood disorders; spread heat (Tibetan: འགྲམས་ཚད་, Wylie: ‘grams tshad, THL: dram tshe), excess heat in the lungs, kidneys, and intestines; reduce swelling; and is a component of the three reds (Tibetan: དམར་གསུམ་, Wylie: dmar gsum, THL: mar sum), a subcompound included in many Tibetan preparations in order to remove excess heat in the blood.

• Gyatso, Thinley; Hakim, Chris (2010). Essentials of Tibetan traditional medicine. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. pp. 167. ISBN 978-1-55643-867-7.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is known as qiàn cǎo gēn (茜草根).

Pharmacologic properties

The following properties were described in various cellular and animal models:

• anti-inflammatory
  • Joshan Rani S., Nagarauk R., Anuradha P. “Antibacterial properties of extracts of Indian medicinal plants: Syzygium alternifolium, phyllanthus niruri and rubia cordifolia” Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal 2010 3:1 (123-128)
• urolithiasis (Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material develops in the urinary tract.)
  • Divakar K., Pawar A.T., Chandrasekhar S.B., Dighe S.B., Divakar G.”Protective effect of the hydro-alcoholic extract of Rubia cordifolia roots against ethylene glycol induced urolithiasis in rats” Food and Chemical Toxicology 2010 48:4 (1013-1018)
• immunomodulatory
  • Joharapurkar A.A., ZAMBAD, S.P., WANJARI, M.M., UMATHE, S.N. “IN VIVO EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF RUBIA CORDIFOLIA LINN. AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ETHANOL-INDUCED IMMUNOSUPPRESSION” “Indian Journal of Pharmacology” 2003; 35: (232-236)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rubia cordifolia.

Wikispecies has information related to Rubia cordifolia.

1. Iwatsuki, K., T. Yamazaki, D. E. Boufford and H. Ohba. 1993. Flora of Japan IIIa: 232.
2. “Material Name: madder”. material record. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. November 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
3. S. Pathania; R. Daman; S. Bhandari; B. Singh; Brij Lal (2006). “Comparative Studies of Rubia cordifolia L. and its Commercial Samples”. Ethnobotanical Leaflets (11): 179–188. Archived from the original on 2009-01-07.
4. Gyatso, Thinley; Hakim, Chris (2010). Essentials of Tibetan traditional medicine. Berkeley, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. pp. 167. ISBN 978-1-55643-867-7.
5. Joshan Rani S., Nagarauk R., Anuradha P. “Antibacterial properties of extracts of Indian medicinal plants: Syzygium alternifolium, phyllanthus niruri and rubia cordifolia” Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal 2010 3:1 (123-128)
6. Divakar K., Pawar A.T., Chandrasekhar S.B., Dighe S.B., Divakar G.”Protective effect of the hydro-alcoholic extract of Rubia cordifolia roots against ethylene glycol induced urolithiasis in rats” Food and Chemical Toxicology 2010 48:4 (1013-1018)
7. Joharapurkar A.A., ZAMBAD, S.P., WANJARI, M.M., UMATHE, S.N. “IN VIVO EVALUATION OF ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF ALCOHOLIC EXTRACT OF RUBIA CORDIFOLIA LINN. AND ITS INFLUENCE ON ETHANOL-INDUCED IMMUNOSUPPRESSION” “Indian Journal of Pharmacology” 2003; 35: (232-236)

External links

• Caldecott, Todd (2006). Ayurveda: The Divine Science of Life. Elsevier/Mosby. ISBN 0-7234-3410-7. Contains a detailed monograph on Rubia cordifolia (Manjishta) as well as a discussion of health benefits and usage in clinical practice. Available online at https://web.archive.org/web/20110616193446/http://www.toddcaldecott.com/index.php/herbs/learning-herbs/306-manjishta

Categories: 

• Rubia
• Plant dyes
• Plants used in Ayurveda