Rubia wallichiana Decne., Mém. Couronnés Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles (4to) 12: 61 (1837) (syn: Rubia asperrima Decne.);
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Himalaya to S. China: China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Hainan, Nepal, West Himalaya as per POWO;
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Similar to R.manjith but plants green throught; stems often more prickly with hooked prickles; leaves lanceolate to ovate, very variable in size, lower ones cordate at base; flowers larger 4-6mm diameter green, yellow or occasionally reddish; corolla lobes 2-3mm with subulate apex.
Fl. April-September
Climbing over rocks and shrubs at margins of cool broad-leaved, evergreen oak and moist coniferous forests.
(Attributions: A.C.J Grierson & D.G Long. Flora of Bhutan. Published by RBGE and RGoB. 1987 as per Bhutan Biodiversity Portal)
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Is it Rubia wallichiana: 5 images.
Kindly confirm if the plant is Rubia wallichiana. It was growing in a lawn in Srinagar. The stem is aciculate and square. The corolla of the flowers is white and most of the fruits are black and tiny 2-3 mm in dia though a very few were upto 5 mm in dia.
Walter R.Lawrence in “The Valley of Kashmir” (1895) Chapter XIII p 344 writes that till Samvat 1923 ( 1866 A.D.) madder was cultivated in Kashmir and its roots sold at 8 Annas per Seer (at present rates about Rs350/Kg.). Rubia wallichiana is even today in use by Monpa people of Tibet and Arunachal Paradesh
Yang R et al in their paper published in the Nature family Open Access Journal Science Reports write that:
“ Synthetic dyes not only pollute the environment and damage ecosystems but can also be harmful to human health..Thus, an “eco-efficiency” concept has come into existence to bring economic and environmental viability together.. As a biodegradable and recyclable resource, natural dyes are gradually beginning to receive more attention..( Yang, R., Zhang, Y., Ranjitkar, S. et al. Reusing wasteroot of Rubia wallichiana dyeing from Monpa of Tibet in China. Sci Rep 11, 14331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-93848-8 )
Cultivation of Rubia wallichiana can be promoted as a sunrise industry in Kashmir.
Or maybe cordifolia ??
Thanks … but I am puzzled by the size of the fruits as I know very little taxonomy.
Can cordifolia have such tiny fruits or is it some variety of cordifolia. There were two larger fruits of 5 mm dia in the entire ensemble (Photo is attached) but the vast majority are tiny 2mm dia black fruits. Of course the stem is very aciculate with little spines clearly visible in the plant photo.
I would be grateful for a definitive view.
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Berry diameter is 3.5-4 mm in wallichiana and 4-6 mm in cordifolia, both black color !
Again thanks for enabling me to arrive at the correct ID.
Yes, id should be Ok, in view of keys from Flora of China:
| 45 (44) | Stems smooth or sparsely aculeolate; flowers purplish red, greenish yellowish, or whitish; fruit 3.5-4 mm in diam., black at maturity. | 37 R. wallichiana | |
| + | Stems rather markedly or sparsely aculeolate; flowers greenish, yellowish, or whitish; fruit 4-6(-7) mm in diam., orange at maturity. | 5 R. cordifolia |
Am posting another photo of red roots and orange buds characteristic of this plant in autumn. In spring the buds will elongate very rapidly and the climbing stems completely enfold any adjacent supporting structure like a fence or a rose bush. For this reason gardeners consider it a troublesome weed. It is striking that though madder was cultivated in Kashmir till 1866 A.D. in places like Pampore- famous for its saffron- today its use is completely forgotten and as far as my enquiries go people here do not even have a Kashmiri name for this plant.
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Would like to add this additional information which may be of interest to members:
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References:
POWO Catalogue of Life GBIF (High resolution specimens) Flora of China Annotated checklist of Flowering plants of Nepal Bhutan Biodiversity Portal India Biodiversity Portal
