''Persicaria tinctoria'' is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family. Common names include Chinese indigo, Japanese indigo and dyer's knotweed. It is native to Southern China and Vietnam, and has been introduced to other parts of China, as well as Germany, Japan, Korea, Tibet, North and South Caucasus, parts of the Russian Far-East, and Ukraine. The leaves are a source of

indigo dye Indigo dye is an organic compound with a distinctive indigo, blue color. Indigo is a natural dye obtained from the leaves of some plants of the Indigofera#Uses, ''Indigofera'' genus, in particular ''Indigofera tinctoria''. Dye-bearing ''Indigofer ...

. It was already in use in the

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended in 77 ...

period ( 1045 BC – 771 BC), and was the most important blue dye in East Asia until the arrival of ''

Indigofera ''Indigofera'' is a large genus of over 750 species of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae. They are widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Description ''Indigofera'' is a varied genu ...

'' from the south.

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Traditional natural dyeing (Korean blue) 2.jpg, Traditional

natural dye Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berry, berries, Bark (botany), bark, leaf, leaves, and wood—and other biological sourc ...

ing (Korean blue) tinctoria Flora of Europe Plants described in 1789 Flora of Asia Plant dyes {{Polygonaceae-stub

See also

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