Its uses are for dyeing and staining; it can be procured in a powdered
state, and imparts its red colour when soaked in water or spirits. This
is a creeping plant with a slender stem; almost quadrangular, the
leaves grow four in a bunch; flowers small, fruit yellow, berry double,
one being abortive. The roots are dug up when the plant has attained the
age of two or three years; they are of a long cylindrical shape, about
the thickness of a quill, and of a red-brownish colour, and when
powdered are a bright Turkish-red. Extracts of madder are mostly
obtained by treating the root with boiling water, collecting the
precipitates which separate on cooling, mixing them with gum or starch,
and adding acetate of alumina or iron. This is in fact a mixture of
colouring matter and a mordant.
=Red-sanders= (_Pterocarpus santalinus_).--The tree from which this wood
is obtained is a lofty one, and is to be found in many parts of India,
especially about Madras. It yields a dye of a bright garnet-red colour,
and is used by French polishers for dyeing polishes, varnishes,
revivers, etc.
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