alkanna a red or brown dye extracted from the roots of plants of the borage family, Alkanna tinctoria and A. officinalis, which has been used both for fabrics and as a food colouring since the time of the early Arab civilizations. Its name comes from the Arabic al hinnā, meaning ‘the dye’ (not to be confused with the red dye commonly called henna, which comes from plants of the genus Lawsonia).
The original alkanna plant is a native of the Levant. Both this and other kinds of borage which yield dye are now found, both wild and cultivated, in much of Europe and around the Mediterranean. Old English names are (dyer’s) alkanet and orcanet.
