INDIGO PLANT

COMMON NAME: Indigo

LATIN NAME: Isatis Tinctoria

ORIGIN: India

HABITAT: India, America, Asia, Europe. The plant was cultivated in Western and Southern Europe, it was introduced into North America, where it became invasive.

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Indigo (lat. Isatis Tinctoria) is a species of plants from the genus Isatis. In total, this genus belongs to the Brassicaceae family or Cruciferae, according to various estimates, includes from 30 to 80 plants.

Isatis Tinctoria has a simple, bare, up-straight stem, sometimes stiff-haired from below, reaching a meter in length. The root of the plant is rutabiform, goes deep into the ground. The leaves of Indigo are bluish-green, basal - oblong-lanceolate, the stem is sessile, long, arrow-shaped, whole-marginal. Small, golden yellow flowers are collected in a corymbose inflorescence. The flowers have a four-leaf corolla with four petals arranged crosswise. The fruits of Isatis Tinctoria are drooping, single-seeded black pods, up to 8 mm long.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION:

Due to the interest of the scientists to Isatis Tinctoria, at the beginning of the XXI century the composition of the plant was well studied. According to the recent studies, more than 65 different active compounds have been discovered in the plant, including glycosides, organic acids and sugars. Vitamins, saponins, flavonoids, indigo dyes, nitrogen-containing compounds. Isatis Tinctoria seeds contain fatty oil, in the composition of which acids such as oleic, arachinic, linoleic, palmitic, erucic, linoglyceric, stearic and eicosenic are found. The roots of the plant contain thioglycosides.

HISTORY:

Seeds are suitable for obtaining fatty oil, similar in composition to linseed oil, so it is often used as its substitute, and in some cases surpasses it.

Fresh juice is obtained from slightly dried leaves and is used as a cosmetic product. Eyebrows, eyelashes, eyelids are dyed with this plant, densely applied each time after a slight drying.

Indigo dye is obtained from the leaves of Isatis Tinctoria.

Isatis Tinctoria has been known to mankind since the Neolithic. Archaeologists found the seeds of the plant in the remains of Iron Age ceramics, the fabrics that were dyed with Indigo found during some excavations date back to the same period. The ancient Egyptians stained bandages for mummies with plant juice. There is a version according to which the Picts, the indigenous inhabitants of the British Isles, tattooed their bodies with the help of Indigo.

*Be sure to follow relevant directions on product labels and consult with your pharmacist or physician or other healthcare professional before using.