Isatis tinctoria / BAN LAN GEN / Indigo Root

Botanical Name – Isatis tinctoria 

Chinese Name – BAN LAN GEN 

English Name – Indigo Root 

Isatis tinctoria, also called woad, dyer’s woad, or glastum, and Indigowoad is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. Woad is also the name of a blue dye produced from the leaves of the plant. 

is native to the steppe and desert zones of the Caucasus, Central Asia to Eastern Siberia and Western Asia but is now also found in South-Eastern and Central Europe and western North America. 

Since ancient times, Isatis tinctoria was an important source of blue dye and was cultivated throughout Europe, especially in Western and Southern Europe.