Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) Flowers and whole plant

Yesterday at Sarah’s workshop a lady was asking about Alkanet, and Sarah told her that it can be used as a dye plant, which is correct but which alkanet did the lady have? It may suprise some people to know that there is more than one and the one that turns up most on the internet on UK sites and labelled as Alkanet is actually Green Alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens) which can grow up to 3 feet in height. You can use the flowers for decoration in salads and summer drinks (like borage) it’s claimed that it was once used as a henna substitute (but I’ve found no evidence of that yet) and it’s a plant you can safely grow if you have a local rabbit population as they hate it! But the bees love it :)

I had a scout around the internet and was amazed at the number of people that were incorrectly identifying Green Alkanet as True Alkanet. I can understand the mistake but if you take a closer look both plants are very different. Notice the colour of blue and the white eye (or centre) of Green Alkanet [above] compared to the deeper blue and amber eye of the True Alkanet [below]. The size of the plant, shape of leaf and places it grows in all differ, so why do people mistake Green Alkanet for True Alkanet, could it be we’re not so familiar with it in the UK? Or that the majority of people don’t know that there is more than one alkanet? Or that most people just take what they see as the facts without checking them for themselves? Lets face it if you ‘google’ Alkanet and enough sites tell you that the pictures of Green Alkanet are Alkanet then it must be so, right?

 
Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria Flowers and whole plant - sideways on.)

True Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria) also known as Dyers Alkanet, Spanish Bugloss and Orchanet, and by the name Dyers Bugloss, which is actually the name that Anchusa officinalis is known by, grows up to about 12 inches in height and is the one best known for its red dye, which depending on the mordants used will dye wool and natural fabrics in shades of grey to purple. The dye is not very soluble in water, it needs to be carefully dissolved in alcohol, before it is added to water and then used as a dye. When acid is added it can colour things such as soaps purple.  Seeds and plants are hard to find in the UK, true Alkanet being a native of Southern Europe, growing mainly in Albania, Turkey.

Alkanet is listed in ‘Culpeper’s Complete Herbal And English Physician’ which was first published in 1652, Culpeper says it grows in Kent, Devonshire and Cornwall, that I’ll have to check out, and will edit this entry if its correct, more facts need to be checked, including when True Alkanet was first introduced into the UK and its exact country of origin.
Culpeper lists it as being useful for removing still births “draw forth the dead child”, for treating leprosy, killing worms and as a remedy for small pox and measles. In the original Culpeper’s Herbal no Latin names are used. In the W. Foulsham & Co Ltd version (original publication date unknown) they include Latin names and have Alkanet down as Anchusa tinctoria. In both versions it says it flowers July - August, while Green Alkanet flowers in April - June.

Alkanna tinctoria’s medicinal properties are antibacterial, antipruritic, astringent and vulnerary. It is used externally in the treatment of varicose veins, indolent ulcers, bed sores and itching rashes.

Anchusa officinalis medicinal properties are as follows, all parts of the plant are demulcent and expectorant, and are used externally to treat cuts, bruises and phlebitis and internally to treat coughs and bronchial catarrh. A homeopathic remedy is made from the plant and it is used in the treatment of stomach and duodenal ulcers.

If you check out plants for a futures website under the listing for Pentaglottis sempervirens you’ll see that Green Alkanet has no known medicinal uses.

Incidentally, finding the Latin ‘Tinctoria’ in a plant name is a good clue if you’re looking for a dye plant, tinctoria means “used for dye”, as in Baptisia tinctoria (Wild Indigo) and Asperula tinctoria (Dyer’s Woodruff) and Isatis tinctoria (Woad). A list of herbs and wild plants that can be used for dyeing can be found here.


 False Alkanet (Anchusa officinalis)

False Alkanet is also known as Common Bugloss, Common Anchusa, Common Alkanet or Dyers’ Bugloss and is a perennial plant of the Borage family like true Alkanet. It grows to nearly two metres tall, is very hairy and has beautiful deep blue flowers. The roots produce a purple dye, but they do not yield anywhere near as much dye as the true alkanet.

All this rambling may still confuse some people, but hopefully it will help show others what True Alkanet looks like and will stop the constant mistake being made. I’m going to look further into where alkanna tinctoria grows and see if I can find a source in the UK of seeds or plants, if I do I’ll add the information to this entry. I was told that Green Alkanet can’t be used for dyeing, and the plants for a future site as well as some of my herbal dye books certainly bares that out, but some internet sites say it can, so I’ll research this further, but to the best of my knowledge, Green Alkanet flowers are the only parts used and can be eaten, the rest of the plant has no known uses, aside from a topic of discussion for identification!