ムラサキは、和名の由来が「群ら咲き」。かつては紫色の染料として重用されました。花言葉は「永遠の愛」。小さな白色の花を咲かせます。
The Japanese name of Purple Gromwell means “flowers bloom in groups”. It was once highly valued as a purple dye. The flower language is “eternal love”. It blooms small white flowers.
【仮名】ムラサキ
【和名】紫
【英名】Purple Gromwell, Red-root Gromwell
【学名】Lithospermum murasaki, Lithospermum erythrorhizon
【誕生】06/ 12
【開花】06, 07月
【花色】White
ムラサキ
ムラサキの概要
ムラサキはムラサキ科の多年草です。日本では北海道から本州、四国、九州まで、国外では朝鮮半島、中国に分布。かつては各地の野原で群生し、紫色の染料として重用されましたが、今では絶滅が危惧されるまで衰退しました。花言葉は「永遠の愛」。小さな白色の花を咲かせます。
ムラサキの名前
ムラサキの和名の由来は「群ら咲き」で、群生して花が咲くから。古来、その根が染料に用いられたため、その色が「紫」と呼ばれるようになりました。漢字の紫の語源は「植物による布の染色」。ラテン語の属名リトスペルムムは「石の種子」という意味で、固い果実に由来します。
ムラサキの姿形
ムラサキの根は赤紫色で太く、直下に伸長。茎は直立し、上方で分枝します。葉は無柄の披針形で互生。茎も葉も粗毛が生えます。花は白色の漏斗状で、花冠が５裂、雄しべが５本。花序は二重の蠍形で、花が左右交互に咲きます。花後は卵形の堅果を結実。熟すと４つに分かれます。
ムラサキの利用
ムラサキは古来、紫色の染料として重用されました。紫は高貴な色で、冠位十二階の最上位。根を掘り上げて干し、微温湯に浸して杵で撞き、染液を整えます。布は椿の灰で媒染してから染色。一方、根は生薬として炎症を抑え、傷を癒し、解熱、解毒、利尿などにも用いられました。
Purple Gromwell
Purple Gromwell is a perennial plant of the Boraginaceae family. In Japan, it is distributed from Hokkaido to Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and overseas to the Korean Peninsula and China. It once grew in groups in fields all over the country and was used as a purple dye, but it has now declined to the point of being considered extinct. The flower language is “eternal love”. It blooms small white flowers.
The Japanese name of Purple Gromwell means “flowers bloom in groups”. In ancient Japan, the purple color of its roots was used as a dye, so the Japanese name of the plant became the Japanese name for purple. The origin of the kanji for purple is “dyeing cloth with plants”. The Latin genus name Lithospermum means “stone seed” and comes from the hard fruit.
The roots of Purple Gromwell are thick and purple, growing straight down. The stems are upright and branch upwards. The leaves are lanceolate and stalkless, and alternate. Both the stems and the leaves are covered with coarse hairs. The flowers are white and funnel-shaped, with a five-lobed corolla and five stamens. The inflorescence is double scorpion-shaped, with the flowers blooming alternately on the left and right. After flowering, the plant produces egg-shaped nuts, which split into four when ripe.
Purple Gromwell has been highly valued as a purple dye since ancient times. Purple is a noble color, and it was the highest rank of the twelve ranks of the crown rank. The roots were dug up, dried, soaked in lukewarm water, and pounded with a pestle to prepare the dye solution. The cloth was mordanted with camellia ash before being dyed. On the other hand, the roots were used as a herbal medicine to suppress inflammation, heal wounds, reduce fever, detoxify, and become diuretic.
