Juglone
A plant compound that gives deep brown-orange colour to cloth, ink and food
No single value: Juglone is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, brown.
Juglone is a natural compound found in walnut trees, especially black walnut, that can colour textiles, inks, and foods a dark orange-brown. It is known for its role in plant interactions and as a source of brown dye, and is sometimes used in cosmetics and as an herbicide.
- Found in black walnut trees and their relatives
- Stains cloth and skin a deep brown-orange
- Also used as a natural herbicide
- First isolated in 1856
- Known as C.I. Natural Brown 7 in the food industry
What colour is Juglone?
Juglone is a brownish-orange colourant that comes from certain trees, most notably the black walnut. It appears as yellow crystals when purified, but stains cloth and other materials a deep brown or orange-brown. Juglone is not just a dye; it is also a chemical that affects the growth of nearby plants, making it unusual among natural colourants.
Where does Juglone come from?
The name juglone comes from the walnut genus Juglans, where the compound is found in high amounts. People noticed long ago that walnut trees could harm other plants, but it was only in the late 1800s that juglone was identified as the cause. Its use as a dye and in folk medicine dates back at least to the early 20th century in the United States.
How is Juglone made?
Juglone is mainly obtained from the green husks of walnuts, where it makes up a few percent of the fresh weight. In the plant, it starts out as a colourless substance that quickly turns brown when exposed to air. Chemically, juglone can also be made by oxidising related compounds, but most traditional dyeing uses extracts from walnut parts.
Where Juglone is used
People have used juglone to colour wool and other fabrics, as well as for making inks. Its strong staining ability means it is also used in some foods and in hair dyes. Because it can harm plants, it is sometimes used as a natural weed killer. Its use is mostly traditional and small-scale rather than industrial.
Brown around the world
What the brown family means from country to country.
Brown is the colour of Nazism in German political speech, after the brown shirts of the party's stormtroopers. To call a view "brown" is to call it far right.
Politics and protestDanger and warningShameSource: SturmabteilungMasi is bark cloth beaten from paper mulberry and printed in brown and black. It is worn at weddings and funerals and given in ceremonial exchanges.
Sacred and holyWeddings and marriageSource: Tapa clothKuntunkuni is a dark brown mourning cloth of the Asante, dyed with tree bark. Adinkra cloth, stamped with symbols, was first made on such dark grounds for funerals.
Mourning and deathSadnessSource: Adinkra symbolsThe batik of the Javanese courts at Yogyakarta and Surakarta is dyed in soga brown with indigo and cream. Some court patterns were once reserved for the royal family.
Royalty and powerPrideSource: BatikBogolanfini, or mud cloth, is cotton painted with fermented river mud in browns, black and white. Hunters wear it for protection, and women after childbirth.
Protection and healingSacred and holySource: B貌g貌lanfiniShades and relatives of Juglone
Juglone is closely related to lawsone, the dye in henna, but gives a different shade. While lawsone is used for reddish-orange colours, juglone produces darker browns and oranges. It is sometimes confused with other brown dyes from plants, but its source and chemical effects set it apart.
Questions people ask about Juglone
What colour does juglone produce?
Juglone gives a dark orange-brown or brownish-orange colour when used as a dye for fabrics, inks, and sometimes foods.
Where does the name juglone come from?
The name juglone is linked to the walnut genus Juglans, which is the main natural source of this compound.
What is juglone made from?
Juglone is found in the husks, leaves, roots, bark, and fruit of walnut trees, especially black walnut.
How is juglone used?
It is used to dye textiles, make inks, colour foods and cosmetics, and sometimes as a plant herbicide.
Good reading and sources
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Juglone", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryRang rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.
It may contain mistakes. The swatch is an approximation: named colours are not fixed standards, and every screen shows them a little differently. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-03.
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