International Research Journal of Biological Sciences ___________________________________ ISSN 2278-3202Vol. 1(4), 69-72, August (2012) I. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 69 Short CommunicationDye Yielding Plants of the Garhwal Himalaya, India: A Case StudySharma Antima1*, Dangwal L.R. and Dangwal MuktaHerbarium and Plant Systematic Laboratory, Department of Botany, H.N.B. Garhwal Central University, Tehri Garhwal, INDIA Govt. P.G. College, New Tehri, Uttarakhand, INDIA Available online at: www.isca.in Received 1st July 2012, revised 3rd July 2012, accepted 4th July 2012Abstract Indians have been considered as forerunners in the art of natural dyeing. Natural dyes find use in the coloring of textiles, drugs, cosmetics, etc. Owing to their nontoxic effects, they are also used for coloring various food products. Although indigenous knowledge system has been practiced over the years in the past, the use of natural dyes has diminished over generations due to lack of documentation. Also there is not much information available on databases of either dye-yielding plants or their products . The present paper is based on the extensive survey, collection of ethno-botanical information and review of relevant literature on the dye yielding resources of the Garhwal Himalaya. The study reports on 46 dye yielding plants belonging to 33 families, along with their vernacular names, habit, parts used, nature of dye and distribution. The aim of the present study has been to investigate the availability of natural dye-yielding plant species in the study area and gather information on traditional knowledge system associated with extraction and use of natural dyes by the villagers. Organic dyeing not only helps preserve the traditional art of weaving and design, but also provides employment and yields economic and ecological benefits. It also describes the preparation of dyeing stuffs, use of mordant and specific dye utilization to serve various purposes, including of new dye resources. Keywords: Plant dyes, mordant, indigenous traditional knowledge. Introduction Garhwal Himalaya occupies central part of the western Himalaya and lies in between the latitude and longitude of 3031N and 78-81E respectively. The region comprises of six districts viz Tehri, Pauri, Uttarkashi, Rudaraparyag, Chamoli and Dehradun. Chamoli and Uttarkashi are border districts embracing with Tibbet-China. This area is full of lash green valleys, natural lakes, rivers, waterfalls, alpine meadows and dense forests with rich biological diversity1-6The study was carried out in one of the block of the district Tehri Garhwal is Narendra Nagar which sustains unique and diverse vegetation in wide range of habitats from Tarai- Bhabar tracts (275-1900 m. asl.) to the high range of lesser Himalaya. It lies in between 3010’-300 17’ N latitude and 780 18’-780 30’E longitude and covering in the area of 6, 8123 ha. It stretches from Dhalwala to Than, Amsera, Jaikot, Gaja to Marora, Nigyer and Dhalwala to Kauriyala etc. Nomadic tribes are Gujjars and Bhotiyas, the former dwelling in the sub-montane zones during winters and moving towards high altitude during the summer seasons. Bhotiyas less often visit to the block. Several ethno-botanist have been work out the traditional uses of plants in the Garhwal Himalaya7-14Dyes are one of the most important uses of the plant, as it relates with cultural practices, rituals, arts and craft, fabrics and to satisfy personal embodiment, however dye yielding have not significant intension.15-16. Material and Methods Extensive field surveys have been made during 2008–2011 to gather data on various aspects of dye yielding resources, along with their ethnobotanical studies. This information was also gathered from elderly women folk, priest and peoples associated with woolen fabrics living in different villages of Narendra Nagar block, Tehri Garhwal. They resided across various villages of Narendra Nagar block such as Than, Amsera, Khari, Jajal, Jaikot, Ghar-gaon, Kathur (Gaja), Marora, Nigyer, Dhalwala, Shivpuri, Byasi, Bachelikhal, Chaka, Pokhari etc. The methodology for collection of plant samples of dye yielding plants have been adopted as per recommended procedure17-18. All the collected plant specimens were identified with the help of recent and relevant floras and confirmed from the authentic specimens, housed in the Herbaria of Botanical Survey of India, Northern Circle (BSD), Dehradun, Forest Research Institute (DD), Dehradun and Garhwal University Herbarium (GUH), Srinagar Garhwal. All the collected plant specimens have been deposited in the Herbarium of H.N.B. Garhwal Central University, S.R.T. Campus Botany Department Badshahi Thaul, Tehri Garhwal and Botany Department Herbarium (GUH), Srinagar Garhwal. In the following text, plant species were arranged alphabetically with their botanical names with citations, local names, family, habit dye yielding plant part used and nature of dye (table 1). International Research Journal of Biological Sciences ________________________________________________ISSN 2278-3202Vol. 1(4), 69-72, August (2012) I. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 70 Results and Discussion The indigenous knowledge system particularly associated with extraction and processing of natural dyes from plants is ancient process. They have traditionally been engaged in extraction, processing and preparation of dyes using barks, leaves, fruits and roots of plant. 46 species belonging to 33 families have been recorded in the present work. Fabaceae is found to be most dominant six species followed by Acanthaceae with three species, Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Lythraceae, Mimosaceae, Polygonaceae and Zingeberaceae with two species each. The remaining 24 families have one species each. Dye under utilization are produced from various parts of the plant, i.e. root, rhizome, stem, bark, leaf, flower, fruit, seed or whole plant, even in few cases resin or gum (Acacia nilotica, Lannea coromandelica and stem galls (Terminallia chebula) also yield dye. The important dyes extracted from roots or underground parts include Curcuma domestica, Rubia cordifolia, Hedychium spicatum, Rumex hastatus, Urtica dioica,Berberis asiatica. Etc. Stem or bark is the important dye source in Acacia catechu,Lagerstroemiaparviflora, Myrica esculenta, Pinus wallichaina. Floral dyes include Butea monosperma, Grevellia robusta, Punica granatum, Rhododendron arboretum, Tagetus erecta, Woodfordia fructicosa. Fruit rind of Acacia nilotica, Embilica officinalis Juglans regia, Mallotus philippensis and Punica granatum are of common use. Sometimes pulp of fruit of Emblica officinalis, Myrica esculenta, Princepia utilis are also made into dyes. Whole plant used in dyes commonly includes Peristrophe paniculata. Generally chlorophyll, the source of green colour is easily extracted with the help of many solvents, therefore large numbers of plants are preferred to extract green dye i.e from the leaves of Adhatoda zeylanica, Cupressus torulosa, Rumex hastatus, etc. The actual nature of dye colour varies from plant to plant and their parts, including methods followed in dye preparations. Except for a few cases Acacia catechu, Juglans regia, Mallotus philippensis, Princepia utilis, Punica granatum, Rubia cordifolia, Woodfordia fructicosa, etc. most of the natural dyes are feeble in nature. Therefore, fastness or longevity of dyes depends on the use of mordants and experience of a person to bring refinement in particular dye or specific preparation. Techniques of extraction of dyes depend upon the specific part of the plant resource. To extract dye from underground root or rhizome, stem or bark, the material is cut into pieces, soaked in water for two to three days and made into paste. After squeezing and filtration, the whole extract is boiled and concentrated by repeating heating, subject to specific requirement. For fruits and fruit-rind, the material is squeezed into juice and added with required water. This solution is kept for 5-7 days in iron pots. In case of Kamala (Mallotus philippensis) the ripe fruits are collected and allowed to lie in heap. The powdered dye stuff of the fruit surface is separated through rubbing the fruits manually or sometimes fruits collected in a sac and externally pressed to isolate the dye powder. The floral parts and leaves, when used for dye, are crushed and dissolved in water for 24 hours, followed with gentle heating for the required concentration. Several of the vegetable dyes are used as mordants and usage of mixture of dyestuff is a common practice. Light solution of organic manure, cow dung or urine, cream of tartar, curd water, ash of wood or bark, rock salt, lemon juice, lime water are common mordants used by the locales. Primitive methods of mordant utilization also include to keep the dye solution in iron, copper, or aluminium pots, and to add tanniniferous materials like extract of tea, coffee, cinnamomum etc. With the advancement of knowledge, weak salts of iron, chromium, aluminium and tin have been used in the dye preparations. Now various chemical salts available in the market succeeded in the usage of mordants, a few are aluminium or potassium sulphate, potassium dichromate, ferrous sulphate, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, stannous chloride, etc. used by local experts to bring refinement in dying art. Most of the indigenous dye extraction processes, fresh, mature fruits, bark of Terminalia chebula and Emblica officinalis almost in equal parts by weight, are crushed and boiled in water for long periods in iron pots. The boiled mixture is then transferred to a pot having minute pores at the bottom through which only the thin liquid can percolate, leaving behind the residues in the pot. The pot with the mixture is placed over a tripod stand and another pot is placed below it, where the black thick liquid from the upper pot is collected in drops and allowed cool down. The thick liquid so collected in the lower pot is the dye (black) used for coloring clothes. The whole plant of Achyranthes aspera is dried, burnt to ashes and mixed with water. This is used as adhesive of various colour and making the colour brighter. A black dye is obtained from the bark of Oroxylum indicum which are soaked in water for 5-6 days or boiled. The dye is used for dying fishing nets. In another process, the whole plant, leaves of Rubia cordifolia, shoots of Ficus racemosa separately or in mixture with parts (flowers, fruits, bark, leaves, etc.) of other natural dye-yielding plant species like Juglans regia, Woordfodia fruticosa, etc. are crushed and put in an iron pot, to which little water is added. The pot is kept undisturbed for 25 days during which period the contents of the pot get fermented. The fermented content is boiled to get a thick liquid and the extract is filtered through a piece of thin cloth to yield the natural dye. The colour of the dyes thus extracted and prepared through this process depends upon the plant species and parts used. In yet another process, hides of buffalo/ox/yak are burnt and about 50 g of the ash is mixed with gall bladder of locally available fish are crushed with leaves of Solanum indicum. The mixture is thoroughly mixed in about 1 liter of water and boiled till it becomes thick. The mixture is squeezed through a cloth to separate the liquid dye. To make the dye fast and non-washable, soot scraped out from cooking pots or burnt resin of Pinus wallichiana is added. However, addition of a few drops of bovine urine assigns quick drying property to the natural dyes. Buteamonosperma, Curcuma domestica, Geranium nepalense, Lannea coromandelicaLagerstroemia parviflora, Peristrophe paniculata, Toona hexandra and several others are preferred for dyeing rough weaving and other textile fibre. Juglans regia, International Research Journal of Biological Sciences ________________________________________________ISSN 2278-3202Vol. 1(4), 69-72, August (2012) I. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 71 Lawsonia inermis, Emblica officinalis, Urtica dioica are some of the plants used as hair-care dyes. A few decades back ink was prepared from the local resources. Commonly used plants yielding ink dye include Acacia catechu, A. nilotica, Emblica officinalis, Hedychium spicatum, Juglans regia, Punica granatum and Terminalia chebula. For ink preparation, dye yielding part is gently heated with water followed with filtration and solution is kept in pots, added with some mordants (alum, lac, tatri, etc.) or a little vegetable laxative gums (Acacia catechu and Bombax ceiba, Acacia catechu, Aesculus indicaJuglans regia,Mallotus philippensis, Prinsepia utilis Toona hexandra, etc. are used in wall and decorating wooden crafts. Conclusion Wealth of traditional knowledge relating to dye yielding plants and their uses has been remained confined. The availability of cheap chemical dyes, the traditional practice of preparation of dye and their uses have been losing their popularity. Indigenous knowledge of extraction, processing and practice of using of natural dyes has done away to a great extent among the new generations of the ethnic groups and only a few of them still practice the process. Unfortunately, no such serious attempts have been made to document, preserve and take advantage of this immense treasure of traditional knowledge of natural dye preparation confined to the indigenous peoples. It is the high time to document these treasures of indigenous knowledge systems. Otherwise we bound to lose this vital information on the utilization of natural resources around us. Indigenous knowledge systems and methods of traditional utilizations of bio-resources of the ethnic groups of the state need to be documented to rescue them being lost forever. Commercialization of some of the natural dyes can be of successful venture to the rural population of the state through systematic and scientific approach with identification of resources, extraction, purifications, chemical structure and promotion of use of natural dyes, thereby enhancing their economy. As a whole, systematic approaches with scientific inputs would help in conserving the important plant resources, in addition to the indigenous knowledge base confined to the ethnic groups of Garhwal Himalaya Acknowledgement The authors are thankful to the peoples of the Narendra Nagar block in Garhwal Himalaya for providing us valuable plants information’s and suggestion. References Ansari A.A. and Ghana N., Some medicinal plants of Pauri, Garhwal, Himalayan Chem., Pharm. Bull,, 42-44 (1985) Badoni A.K. and Badoni, Ethnobotanical heritage, In: (O.P. Kandari and O.P. 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Biological Sci., 1(2), 77-79 (2012)15Mahanta D. and Tiwari S.C., Natural dye-yielding plants and indigenous knowledge on dye preparation in Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India, Curr. Sci, 88, 1474–1480 (2005) 16Siva R., Status of natural dyes and dye yielding plants in India, Curr. Sci.,92(7), 916-925 (2007)17Jain S.K. and Rao R.R., Field and Herbarium Methods. Today and Tommarow‘s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi (1997)18Singh H.B. and Subramanyam, Field manual of Herbarium Techniques NISCAIR (CSIR) New Delhi-12 (2008) International Research Journal of Biological Sciences ________________________________________________ISSN 2278-3202Vol. 1(4), 69-72, August (2012) I. Res. J. Biological Sci. International Science Congress Association 72 Table 1 Dye yielding plants of Garhwal Himalaya Name of the Species Vernacular Name Family Habit Dye yielding plant parts (s) Dye produced Abrus precatorius L. Ratti Fabaceae Climber Seeds Black Accacia catechu (L.f) Willd. Khair Mimosaceae Tree Bark\ Wood Dark- brown Accacia nilotica L. (Willd) ex Del.Babul Mimosaceae Tree Fruit rind \ Gum Black Achyranthes aspera L. Latjiri Amaranthaceae Herb Whole plant Black-Brown Adhatoda zeylanica Medik. Vasik Acanthaceae Shrub Leaves Yellow –green Artemisia japonica Thunb. Kunja Asteraceae Herb Leaves Brown Berberis aristata DC Kilmor Berberidaceae Shrub Bark\ roots Yellow Bixa orellena L.Sandoor Bixaceae Tree Seed Orange red Butea monosperma (Lam.) Kuntze Dhak Fabaceae Tree Flowers Yellow orange Cassia fistula L.Amaltas Caesalpiniaceae Tree Bark\fruits Brown Cupressus torulosa D. Don Surai Cupressaceae Tree Leaves Green Curcuma domestica Valeton Haldi Zingiberaceae Herb Rhizome Yellow Desmodium multiflorum DC. Patioy Fabaceae Herb Seed Purple Emblica officinalis Gaertn.syn Anwala Euphorbiaceae Tree Fruits\Bark Dark Brown Erythrina suberosa Roxb. Madar Fabaceae Tree Flower\Bark Dark Brown Flemingia macrophylla (Willd.) Prain.Buor Fabaceae Shrub Leaves and bark Black Geranium wallichianum D.Don ex Sweet Syunli Geraniaceae Herb Roots Red- Brown Grevillea robusta A. Cunnigh. Ex R. Br. Silver-oak Proteaceae Tree Flowers Yellow Grewia optiva Drumm. Ex Burr. Bhimal Tilaceae Tree Fruits Yellow- orange Hedychium spicatum Buch.-Ham. Ex Sm. Bagaldu Zingiberaceae Herb Rhizome yellow Hypericum oblongifolium Choisy Basant Hypericaceae Herb Flowers Yellow Impatiens balsamina L. Gulmehndi Balsaminaceae Herb Flowers Red Indigofera tinctoria Linn.Sakina Fabaceae Shrub Seed Indigo Juglans regia L. Akrot Juglandaceae Tree Bark\fruits Camel\ Brown Lagerstroemia parviflora Roxb. Dhaura Lythraceae Shrub Bark Black Lannea coromandelica (Houtt.) Merr. Kalminia Anacardiaceae Tree Bark\Resin Yellow- Brown Mallotus philippensis (Lam.) Muell.-Arg. Ruina Euphorbiaceae Tree Fruits Red-Orange Mirabilis jalapa L. Gulabans Nyctaginaceae Herb Flowers Pink-red Myrica esculenta Buch.-Ham. Ex D.Don Kaphal Myricaceae Tree Bark\Fruits Red- yellow Oroxylum indicum (L.) Vent. Tantia Bignoniaceae Tree Bark\Fruits Black Peristrophe paniculata (Forsk.) Burm.Ban patrang Acanthaceae Tree Whole plant Greenish Phlogacanthus thyrsiformis (Hardw.) Mabb. Lalnya Acanthaceae Tree Whole Plant Greenish Pinus wallichaina A.B. Jackson Kail Pinaceae Tree Bark Black Prinsepia utilis Royle Bhainkal Rosaceae Shrub Fruits Blue Punicum granatum L. Darim Punicaceae Tree Flower\Fruits Yellow-red Rhododendron arboreum Sm. Burans Ericaceae Tree Flowers Red Rubia cordifolia L. Manjith Rubiaceae Herb Whole plant Red-brown Rumex hastatus D.Don Almorya Polygonaceae Herb Roots Yellow green Rumex nepalensis Spreng. Kathura Polygonaceae Herb Roots Yellow green Solanum nigrum L.Mikoi Solanaceae Herb Seed Black Tagetes erecta L. Genda Asteraceae Herb Flowers Yellow Tectona grandis L.f. Saigon Verbenaceae Tree Leaves\ Bark Reddish Terminalia chebula (Gaertn.) RetzHarad Combrataceae Tree Root \bark Dark blue Toona serrata (Royle) M. Roem. Toon Meliaceae Tree Flowers\ seeds Yellow-brown Urtica dioica L. Kandali Urticaceae Shrub Roots Brown- black Woodfordia fruticosa (L.) Kurz Dhaula Lythraceae Shrub Flower\leaves Red-yellow