Indigofera tinctoria, also called true indigo, is a species of plant from the bean family (legume) that was one of the original sources of indigo dye. It has been naturalized to tropical and temperate Asia, as well as parts of Africa.
Dye is obtained from the processing of the plant’s leaves. They are soaked in water and fermented in order to convert the glycoside indican naturally present in the plant to the blue dye indigotin. The precipitate from the fermented leaf solution is mixed with a strong base such as lye.
The rotenoids deguelin, dehydrodeguelin, rotenol, rotenone, tephrosin and sumatrol can be found in Indigofera tinctoria
The plant indigofera Tinctoria belongs to the family Fabaceae which popularly known as Neeli in Tamil found throughout India. Indigo or Indigofera tinctoria is used for the treatment of fever, liver and spleen disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, grey hairs etc. The leaves promote hair growth.
