Isatis tinctoria L.: an ancient dye plant of interest as a multifunctional crop

摘要

Isatis tinctoria L is an ancient crop that has been used as forage to feed animals, as a dye by extracting the indigo color from the leaves and also as a medicinal crop (Epstein et al., 1967; Hamburger, 2002; Heinemann et al., 2004; Spataro and Negri,2007; Bratt-strom et al., 2010). There are about 30 species belonging to the Isatis genus, all of which exhibit yellow flowers, winged seeds and indehiscent fruit called silicula. I. tinctoria L. is an out-bred biennial, probably native to south west Asia and south east Europe and it has been cultivated since prehistoric times in Europe (Spataro and Negri, 2007).