# Alkanet (Alkanna tinctoria)

**Anchusa*; Greek *anchousa*, “paint”*

**Known today as.** *Alkanna tinctoria* (syn. *Anchusa tinctoria*). A Mediterranean relative of borage, grown for the red dye in its root.

Kind: Plant  
Poisoning: Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (veno-occlusive disease) (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/pyrrolizidine)

## What was it used for?

Ground and infused in oil or wax to color salves, wood stains, and faces: French women of the eighteenth century used an alkanet ointment as rouge.

## What does modern science say?

A traditional dye and cosmetic pigment with no established internal medicinal action; some related species carry liver-toxic alkaloids.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **alkannin**: the red naphthoquinone pigment
- **shikonin**: its enantiomer
- **7-angeloylretronecine**: a pyrrolizidine alkaloid
- **triangularine**: 

**Mechanism.** Alkannin and shikonin speed wound closure in animal and some clinical work and are antimicrobial; the root also carries pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which are converted in the liver to pyrroles that block the hepatic veins.

**Dose.** External use is the only safe use; the alkaloid content makes internal use unwise at any dose.

**Standing.** Used as a colour for cosmetics and food in some countries; internal use is not approved, and the German authorities have advised against it since the 1990s.

## What lore surrounds it?

Its name descends from the Greek *anchousa*, “paint,” naming the plant for its use rather than its look. It gave wax rubbed onto warm marble a convincing flesh tint, and oil or spirit of wine a deep red, though it stains water only a dull brown.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Pliny.** “The root of the anchusa, too, is made use of, a plant a finger in thickness. It is split into leaves like the papyrus, and when touched it stains the hands the colour of blood; it is used for imparting rich colours to wool.” Applied with cerate “it heals ulcerous sores, those of aged people in particular,” and is employed for burns. Pliny gives the test of the genuine root: “It is insoluble in water, but dissolves in oil.” With vinegar it serves “for the cure of leprosy and the removal of freckles,” and “a decoction of the root in water, it is said, kills fleas.”

**Culpeper.** Under Venus, “one of her darlings, though somewhat hard to come by”: made into an ointment for old ulcers, burns, and St Anthony’s fire; he repeats Dioscorides that it helps those bitten by a venomous beast, and that “if any one that hath newly eaten it, do but spit into the mouth of a serpent, the serpent instantly dies”; “as gallant a remedy to drive out the small pox and measles as any is.”

## Sources

- Grieve, M. (1931). A Modern Herbal, “Alkanets.”
- Pliny the Elder, *Natural History* 22.23, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library.
- Culpeper, N. (1653). *The Complete Herbal*, “Alkanet.” Project Gutenberg #49513.
- Papageorgiou, V. P., et al. (1999). “The chemistry and biology of alkannin, shikonin, and related naphthazarin natural products.” *Angewandte Chemie* 38.
- Roeder, E. (1995). “Medicinal plants in Europe containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids.” *Pharmazie* 50.

---

*Alkanet.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-01. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/alkanet

Historical description, not medical advice.