Hairy puccoon
A yellow-flowered plant whose roots yield a red dye
No single value: Hairy puccoon is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, yellow.
Hairy puccoon is a plant with yellow-orange flowers and rough leaves, growing in sandy soils. Its roots can be dried or ground to make a red dye, and have also been used in traditional remedies for chest injuries.
- Roots yield a red dye when dried or ground
- Grows in sandy, sunny soils
- Flowers are yellow-orange and about an inch wide
- Leaves and stems are covered in coarse hairs
What colour is Hairy puccoon?
Hairy puccoon is a plant that stands out for its bright yellow-orange blossoms, each about an inch across. The plant is covered in coarse hairs and grows up to two and a half feet tall. Its leaves are widest at the centre and have smooth edges. The flowers cluster at the top of the stems, and the plant prefers dry, sandy places.
Where does Hairy puccoon come from?
The name 'puccoon' is used for several North American plants whose roots produce dyes. Hairy puccoon is also called Carolina puccoon or Plains puccoon. It grows in sandy habitats in parts of the United States and Canada. The plant has been valued for its dye and for traditional uses.
How is Hairy puccoon made?
To obtain the dye, the roots of the hairy puccoon are dried or ground into a powder. This powder is then used to produce a red colouring. The plant itself needs sandy, lime-free soil and plenty of sun to thrive.
Where Hairy puccoon is used
The red dye from hairy puccoon roots has been used to colour fabrics and for body applications. The powdered root has also been applied in traditional medicine, especially for treating wounds to the chest.
Yellow around the world
What the yellow family means from country to country.
A yellow ribbon tied round a tree or pinned to a coat means someone is waiting for a loved one to come home. It spread during the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 to 1981.
Protection and healingLove and desireHopeSource: Yellow ribbonSchool buses across the country are painted one shade of yellow, agreed at a conference in 1939 because black lettering on it is easy to read in early morning light.
Protection and healingSource: School bus yellowThe yellow disc of the Aboriginal flag is the sun, giver of life. The flag was designed by the Luritja artist Harold Thomas and first flown in Adelaide in 1971.
Sacred and holySource: Australian Aboriginal flagAt the gaye holud, held a day or two before a wedding, relatives rub turmeric paste on the bride and groom. Guests dress in yellow and orange.
Weddings and marriageFestival and celebrationJoySource: Gaye holudOn Pohela Falgun, the first day of spring, young women wear yellow and orange saris, a shade called basanti, with flowers in their hair.
Festival and celebrationNature and renewalJoySource: Pohela FalgunThe Flemish flag is a black lion on yellow, and the Walloon flag a red cockerel on yellow. The language communities are often shown by these colours.
Politics and protestPrideSource: Flag of FlandersShades and relatives of Hairy puccoon
Other plants called puccoon also yield dyes, but hairy puccoon is recognised by its large yellow-orange flowers and rough, hairy leaves. It is sometimes confused with related species, but its flower shape and leaf texture help tell it apart.
Questions people ask about Hairy puccoon
What colour is the dye from hairy puccoon?
The roots of hairy puccoon produce a red dye when they are dried or ground into powder.
Where does the name 'puccoon' come from?
The word 'puccoon' refers to North American plants whose roots are used to make dyes.
Where does hairy puccoon grow?
It grows in sandy soils in parts of the United States and Canada, especially in dry, open areas.
How is the dye made from the plant?
The roots are either dried or ground up, and the resulting powder is used as a red dye.
Good reading and sources
- Lithospermum caroliniense on WikipediaEncyclopedia
- More pictures on Wikimedia CommonsPictures
- Wikidata recordOpen data
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Lithospermum caroliniense", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). Rang 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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