Dye plants

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All 26 dye plants in the catalogue, alphabetical by common name. Each links to a full page with its ratings across the USDA, RHS, Canadian and Australian systems.

• Annatto Bixa orellana – Tropical American small tree with pink flowers and spiny red seed capsules. The orange seed coating (bixin and norbixin) is the principal natural orange food and textile colourant — the colour of cheddar cheese, Spanish chorizo, and bottled fruit-flavour drinks. USDA zones 10–12
• Aztec marigold Tagetes erecta – Tall Mexican native annual with dense double yellow or orange pom-pom flower heads. The principal natural source of dietary lutein (the yellow colour of egg yolks in caged-hen production) and a strong textile dye. USDA zones 2–11
• Black wattle Acacia mearnsii – Fast-growing Australian wattle widely planted as a commercial tannin source. The bark contains the highest commercially viable tannin concentration of any common species (28–40%). USDA zones 8–11
• Brazilwood Paubrasilia echinata – Eastern Brazilian native tree with bright red heartwood, historically the most prized source of red textile dye in Europe — and the source of the name of the country Brazil. Now critically endangered in the wild. USDA zones 10–12
• Catechu (Cutch) Senegalia catechu – Spiny South and South-East Asian tree, formerly Acacia catechu, providing the dark resinous extract called cutch — a major source of brown dye and tannin, and a traditional ingredient in betel-nut chewing. USDA zones 9–12
• Dyer’s alkanet Alkanna tinctoria – Bristly Mediterranean perennial with bright blue forget-me-not-like flowers and a deep purple-red taproot. The root yields a fat-soluble red pigment used for soap, lip salves, oils, and food colouring. USDA zones 6–9
• Dyer’s broom (Dyer’s greenweed) Genista tinctoria – Low spreading British native broom relative with bright yellow pea-flowers in summer. Whole flowering shoots produce a clear yellow dye, the traditional partner to woad for medieval green cloth. USDA zones 2–8
• Dyer’s chamomile Anthemis tinctoria – Bushy short-lived perennial with finely cut grey-green foliage and abundant bright yellow daisy flowers from midsummer onwards. Flowers produce a clean fresh yellow textile dye. USDA zones 3–7
• Dyer’s coreopsis (Plains coreopsis) Coreopsis tinctoria – Native annual prairie wildflower of central North America with abundant small yellow-and-red daisy flowers. Long used by the prairie peoples for orange-to-red dyes and now a popular natural-dyer’s annual. USDA zones 2–11
• Heather Calluna vulgaris – Low evergreen shrub of acid moorland across northern Europe, with masses of small mauve, pink, or white bell flowers in late summer. Aerial parts produce yellow to greenish-yellow textile dye. USDA zones 4–7
• Henna Lawsonia inermis – Tropical and subtropical shrub of North Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, with small fragrant white flowers and oval leaves. The leaves are the principal source of orange-red body and hair dye. USDA zones 9–12
• Hollyhock Alcea rosea – Tall cottage-garden biennial or short-lived perennial with broad funnel flowers in pink, white, yellow, or the dark-purple "black" form. The black flowers produce a deep violet to near-black natural dye. USDA zones 3–8
• Japanese indigo Persicaria tinctoria – Tender annual related to the knotweeds, with broad oval leaves and small pink flower spikes in late summer. The principal indigo dye plant of East Asia and a reliable cold-climate alternative to tropical Indigofera. USDA zones 4–11
• Lady’s bedstraw Galium verum – Sprawling native meadow perennial with whorls of needle-like leaves and dense clouds of tiny yellow flowers in midsummer. Aerial parts yield a yellow dye and the roots yield a red dye. USDA zones 3–8
• Logwood Haematoxylum campechianum – Small Central American tree with deeply furrowed bark and small yellow flowers. The dark red-purple heartwood produces a wide range of purple and black dyes used historically for ink, cloth, and microscopy stains. USDA zones 10–12
• Madder Rubia tinctorum – Sprawling rough-leaved perennial with whorled prickly leaves and tiny yellow flowers. The roots are the historical source of red, pink, and orange textile dyes — the original Turkey red of European trade cloth. USDA zones 6–10
• Osage orange Maclura pomifera – Tough North American native tree with thorny branches, glossy leaves, and inedible grapefruit-sized green fruits. Heartwood produces a clear yellow dye and the timber is the historic plains windbreak species. USDA zones 4–9
• Pokeweed Phytolacca americana – Tall North American native perennial with red stems, white flower racemes, and clusters of glossy purple-black berries in late summer. Berries yield a strong pink-to-purple dye, historically used for ink and food colouring. USDA zones 4–9
• Quebracho colorado Schinopsis lorentzii – South American tree of the Gran Chaco region with extraordinarily dense, hard, tannin-rich red heartwood — one of the densest woods in the world, hence the name (from "quebrar hacha", to break an axe). USDA zones 9–11
• Safflower Carthamus tinctorius – Thistle-like annual with spiny leaves and golden-orange flower heads. One of the oldest cultivated crops, grown for both red and yellow dye (from the flowers) and for safflower seed oil. USDA zones 4–11
• Silver dollar gum Eucalyptus cinerea – Smaller eucalypt with juvenile silver-grey rounded leaves clasping the stem, often kept in juvenile leaf form by hard pruning for the florist trade. Leaves produce a strong range of orange, yellow, and rust dyes. USDA zones 8–11
• Tanner’s sumac (Sicilian sumac) Rhus coriaria – Mediterranean shrub with pinnate leaves and dense panicles of small dull-red fruits, dried and ground to produce the lemon-tart sumac spice of Levantine cuisine. Leaves are the source of one of the highest tannin contents of any plant. USDA zones 8–10
• Tea plant Camellia sinensis – Evergreen East Asian shrub with leathery dark green leaves, small fragrant white flowers, and the leaves that produce all tea — green, oolong, black, and white. Spent leaves yield brown and tan textile dyes. USDA zones 7–10
• True indigo Indigofera tinctoria – Tropical shrub historically the world's premier source of natural blue dye — driving global trade for centuries until synthetic indigo replaced it in the 1880s. USDA zones 9–11
• Weld (Dyer’s rocket) Reseda luteola – Tall biennial European native with rosettes of narrow leaves the first year and slim yellow flower spikes to 1.5 m the second. The clearest, most light-fast yellow dye of the medieval European palette. USDA zones 4–8
• Woad Isatis tinctoria – Tall biennial brassica with rosettes of blue-green leaves the first year and clouds of small yellow flowers the second. The pre-Columbian source of blue dye across Europe, displaced commercially by tropical Indigofera in the 17th century. USDA zones 4–9

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