Indigofera - Dye plant - Indigo - Litunarjurt - Belgjurt - Garðskálaplanta

Common Indigo - Indigofera - Fabaceae - Pea family - Natural dye plant. Blue dye - Indigo may irritate the eyes and may cause dermatitis. Deciduous subshrub of southeastern Asia having pinnate leaves and clusters of red or purple flowers; a source of indigo dye. Litunarplanta - Indigo litunarjurt - Belgjurt Indigofera tinctoria bears the common name true indigo. The plant was one of the original sources of indigo dye. It has been naturalized to tropical and temperate Asia, as well as parts of Africa, but its native habitat is unknown since it has been in cultivation worldwide for many centuries. Today most dye is synthetic, but natural dye from I. tinctoria is still available, marketed as natural coloring. The plant is also widely grown as a soil-improving groundcover. It may be an annual, biennial, or perennial, depending on the climate in which it is grown. It has light green pinnate leaves and sheafs of pink or violet flowers. The plant is a legume, so it is rotated into fields to improve the soil in the same way that other legume crops such as alfalfa and beans are. See more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigofera_tinctoria Common or Indian Indigo ; not to be confused with false, wild, or Bastard indigo - Baptisia tinctoria. See more:http://www.drugs.com/npp/indigo.html Indigofera tinctoria means dyer’s indigo-bearing plant (tinctoria means dyer and indigofera means indigo bearing). There are many plants in the genus; it is thought that there are around 700, which is of the Fabaceae family, making indigo a relative of the pea. Marco Polo wrote about the indigo dying industry in the 13th century on his travels around what is now Quilon in the Indian state of Kerala in 1298. However we know that indigo was used as a dye by the people of the Indus Valley Civilization between the 4th and 2nd millennia BC. In the Industrial Revolution the dye was used for European military uniforms and of course has been used in the US to dye blue jeans their distinctive colour. However imported indigo was banned in many countries in Europe in the 17th century so that it did not compete with woad, as dyers and cultivators of this native European plant protested against the importing of indigo. Later indigo and woad were used together to strengthen the colour of the dye. See more: http://herbs-treatandtaste.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/indigo-is-health-giving-plant-history.html Litunarjurtir - Fróðleikur um Indigo litunarplöntur - hvernig á að búa til lit sem litar fatnað og pappír. Only the leaves contain enough indigotin pigment to be worth processing. Freshly cut leaves can be harvested two to seven times a year depending on the climate and growing conditions. See more: https://sites.google.com/site/kateannelong/plant Australian Indigo - Indigofera australis Himalayan indigo - Indigofera heterantha - Indigofera gerardiana - Indigofera pseudotinctoria Indigofera decora Indigofera kirilowii Indigofera miniata Racemes of flowers grow in the leaf axils. Most species have flowers in shades of red, but there are a few white- and yellow-flowered species. The fruit is a legume pod of varying size and shape. Several species, especially Indigofera tinctoria and Indigofera suffruticosa, are used to produce the dye indigo. Colonial planters in the Caribbean grew indigo and transplanted its cultivation when they settled in the colony of South Carolina and North Carolina Where people of the Tuscarora confederacy adopted the dying process for head wraps and clothing. Exports of the crop did not expand until the mid-to late 18th century. When Eliza Lucas Pinckney and enslaved Africans successfully cultivated new strains near Charleston it became the second most important cash crop in the colony (after rice) before the American Revolution. It comprised more than one-third of all exports in value. The chemical aniline, from which many important dyes are derived, was first synthesized from I. suffruticosa (syn. I. anil, whence the name aniline). In Indonesia, the Sundanese use Indigofera tinctoria (known locally as tarum) as dye for batik. Several species of this group are used to alleviate pain. The herbs are generally regarded as an analgesic with anti-inflammatory activity, rather than an anodyne. Indigofera articulata was used for toothache, and Indigofera oblongifolia was used as an anti-inflammatory for insect stings, snakebites, and swellings. Indigofera suffruticosa and Indigofera aspalthoides have also been used as anti-inflammatories. A patent was granted for use of Indigofera arrecta extract to relieve ulcer pain. The Maasai people of Kenya use parts of Indigofera brevicalyx and I. swaziensis as toothbrushesSee more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigofera David Rudwick - Gardens and Greenhouse - West Lavington.