Botanical Name / Medicinal Name: Alkanna Tinctoria Root / Gale of the Wind
Common Name /English Name: Alkanet Root , Ratanjot

Other Names:

Unani: Ratanjot
URDU: Ratanjot
Siddha/Tamil: Ratanjot

FAMILY: Boraginaceae
HABIT: Native to Pakistan.

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Uses & Benefits

Alkanna tinctoria, the dyer’s alkanet or alkanet, is a herb in the borage family. Its main notability is its roots are used as a red dye. The plant is also known as dyers’ bugloss, orchanet, Spanish bugloss, or Languedoc bugloss. It is native to the Mediterranean region. In Greece A. tinctoria shows a strong genetic structure that has been shown to be mainly driven by neutral processes.  A. tinctoria has 30 chromosomes and is regarded as a dysploid at the tetraploid level.

A. tinctoria has a bright blue flower. The plant has a dark red root of blackish appearance externally, but blue-red inside, with a whitish core. The root produces a fine red colouring material, which has been used as a dye in the Mediterranean region since antiquity. The root as a dyestuff is soluble in alcohol, ether, and the oils, but is insoluble in water. It is used to give colour to wines and alcoholic tinctures, to vegetable oils, and to varnishes.

Powdered and mixed with oil, the alkanet root is used as a wood stain. When mixed into an oily environment, it imparts a crimson color to the oil, which when applied to a wood, moves the wood color towards dark-red-brown rosewood, and accentuates the grain of the wood.

Alkanet is traditionally used in Indian food under the name ratan jot, and lends its red colour to some versions of the curry dish rogan josh. In Australia, alkanet is approved for use as a food colouring, but in the European Union, it is not.