Main constituents : Gallic and ellagic acid derived hydrolysable tannins.

Uses :
Mordanting cellulose fibers : In pre-mordanting baths, myrobalan extract enhances the mordant fixation on cellulosic fibers, usually more difficult to dye (tannins ellagic bring a light yellow bottom), but also on the protein fibers, for the obtaining of numerous nuances.

Dyeing and textile printing of natural fibers : Shades from yellow brownish to brown for the cotton and the wool, can be obtained with a mordançage in the alum. In combination with the iron, it is one of the bases of numerous dark nuances, black, grey.

Other uses : tannery, ink preparation.

Products not intended for food.

The plant :
Chebulic Myrobalan (Terminalia chebula Retz) grows in the forests of diverse regions of Asia (India, Nepal, Burma, China and Bangladesh). It had been introduced in tropical Africa where individual trees are sometime cultivated. It is the medium-sized tree that recognizes itself in its fruits with measuring two in four centimeters and the color of which varies between the black, the brown-orangy color and the yellow when ripe.

Fruits of Terminalia chebula are rich in tannins and are used on a great scale in India in tannery. They are also used for the dye and the printing, at the same time as auxiliary ingredients and as colouring agents; their tannins act as mordents and fix colouring agents on the cotton. The myrobalan is also used as a mordant and in the silk spinning industry to give some weight back to degummed silk.

The Chinese doctors used the myrobalan for 1000 years to handle numerous diseases as well as to look after wounds and strengthen the body. The plant is also used in medicine in India from the antiquity.

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