Oldenlandia umbellata (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Oldenlandia umbellata L.

Protologue: Sp. Pl. 1: 119 (1753).

Family: Rubiaceae

Chromosome number: 2n= 36

• Hedyotis umbellata (L.) Lamk (1791).

• Chay-root, Indian madder (En).

Chay-root occurs naturally from north-eastern to south-eastern India, in Burma and Sri Lanka. It has also been reported in Cambodia and Indonesia (near Jakarta), probably as a relic of former cultivation. It was once extensively cultivated along the Coromandel coast (eastern India).

The name "chay-root" was used in India for the bark of O. umbellata roots, an important source of dye before the large-scale production of synthetic dyes started at the end of the 19th Century. It was known for its ability to impart a red colour to wool, silk and calico fabrics. It was much employed for dyeing handkerchiefs in Madras, for which that town was once so famous. Small quantities of the dye have been traded to Europe, but without much success.

A decoction of the leaves and bark is considered expectorant and is prescribed in cases of bronchial catarrh, bronchitis and asthma. A decoction of the leaves is used as a wash for poisonous bites in India.

The dye consists of a complex mixture of quinones. Some constituents are similar to those found in the dye from Rubia cordifolia L. (Indian madder), such as alizarin, rubichloric acid and ruberythric acid. Other major constituents of the true Indian madder dye, such as purpurin and purpuroxanthin, are not found in chay-root. Chay-root dye is considered to be somewhat inferior to the dye of Indian madder, possessing only about half the dyeing power of that species. The plants contain mannitol, which is common in the family Rubiaceae.

• An annual or biennial herb, often somewhat woody and much-branched, up to 30(-50) cm tall, with a very long, up to 90 cm, yellow-red taproot; stems angular, rough and pubescent.
• Leaves opposite, often seemingly fascicled, or decussate, linear-lanceolate, small, 8-30 mm × 1-5 mm, decurrent at base, acute or apiculate at apex, entire and subsessile; stipules short.
• Flowers in 3-12-flowered axillary and terminal umbel-like, long-stalked cymes, 4-merous, about 4 mm across, with a campanulate pinkish-white corolla much longer than the calyx, 4 stamens, and an inferior ovary.
• Fruit a globose dehiscent capsule, small, 1.5-2.5 mm across, crowned by the persistent calyx lobes.
• Seeds reticulate.

In its wild state, chay-root is a low, widely spreading, almost stemless plant, but under cultivation it grows more erect. The flowers are dimorphic (heterostylous). Plants have either flowers with long stamens exserted from the corolla tube and a short style, or flowers with short stamens included in the corolla tube and a long style.

O. umbellata is sometimes called Indian madder. However, this English vernacular name is more commonly used for Rubia cordifolia which is also a source of red dye.

Chay-root prefers sandy soils along coasts and river banks where the roots can penetrate the soil deeply. In India, it was cultivated along the coast, in the same places where wild plants grow. In Indonesia, the species is recorded as a weed in upland rice.

The cultivation of chay-root is labour-intensive. Plants are propagated by seed, which are sown at the beginning of the rainy season in thoroughly ploughed land. The sandy and loose soil which chay-root needs should be watered and manured with cow-dung, and regular weeding is necessary. To obtain maximum yield per year, roots are usually harvested after about 6 months; to do this, the soil is loosened with a narrow-bladed iron spade and the roots are carefully removed. In collecting from the wild, the roots of 2-year-old plants are preferred for dyeing, because the bark of these plants yields more colouring matter. The roots are dried in the sun for 5 days and tied in large bundles. A mordant is needed to dye wool, silk and cotton red. Therefore, alum is usually added to a solution of the dye.

Chay-root has not been used for dyeing purposes for many years. The dye has been replaced by aniline dyes which are cheaper, brighter and faster. Chay-root might benefit from a reviving interest for natural dyes in the future, but it will then have to compete with other herbaceous plants producing a red dye, like Indian madder, which have better dyeing properties.

• Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink, R.C., 1965. Flora of Java. Vol. 2. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. pp. 284-286.
• Crevost, Ch. & Pételot, A., 1941. Catalogue des produits de l'Indochine. Tome 6. Tannins et tinctoriaux. Gouvernement général de l'Indochine, Hanoi. pp. 54-55.
• Matthew, K.M., 1983. The flora of the Tamilnadu Carnatic. Vol. 1. Madras, India. p. 730.
• Sastri, B.N. (Editor), 1959. The wealth of India. Raw materials. Vol 5. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. New Delhi. p. 16.

E.H. Mandia