Catechu
A reddish-brown dye and extract from the heartwood of Senegalia catechu
No single value: Catechu is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, brown.
Catechu is a reddish-brown extract taken from the heartwood of the Senegalia catechu tree, native to South and Southeast Asia. It is used as a dye for textiles and leather, and gives a red colour and flavour to paan, a traditional betel leaf preparation.
- Extracted from the heartwood of Senegalia catechu
- Used to dye textiles and tan leather
- Gives red colour and flavour to paan
- Known as cutch or black catechu
- Native to South and Southeast Asia
What colour is Catechu?
Catechu is a natural dye and extract that comes from the heartwood of the Senegalia catechu tree, which grows in South and Southeast Asia. The extract is reddish-brown and is known for its use in dyeing and tanning. It is also used in food, especially to give a red colour and flavour to paan, a betel leaf preparation popular in India and neighbouring countries.
Where does Catechu come from?
The name 'catechu' comes from the Malay word 'kachu', which was adopted into Latin as the tree's scientific name. Senegalia catechu was previously known as Acacia catechu. Its extracts have given their name to several important chemical compounds, such as catechins and catechols.
How is Catechu made?
Catechu is produced by extracting the heartwood of the Senegalia catechu tree. The wood is processed to obtain a concentrated aqueous extract, sometimes called cutch or khayer gum. This extract is then used as a dye, astringent, or flavouring.
Where Catechu is used
Catechu is widely used in dyeing textiles and tanning leather. It is also a preservative for fishing nets and a viscosity regulator in oil drilling. In food, it is a key ingredient in paan, giving it a distinctive red colour and taste. The extract is also used in traditional medicine.
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: BògòlanfiniShades and relatives of Catechu
Catechu is sometimes called cutch or black cutch. It should not be confused with other plant extracts or dyes with similar names. Its chemical derivatives include catechins and catechols, which are important in chemistry and biology.
Questions people ask about Catechu
What colour is catechu?
Catechu is a reddish-brown extract used mainly as a dye and in food preparations.
Where does the name catechu come from?
The name comes from the Malay word 'kachu', which was Latinised in scientific naming.
What is catechu used for?
Catechu is used to dye textiles, tan leather, preserve fishing nets, and as a flavour and colour in paan.
What is catechu made from?
Catechu is made from the heartwood of the Senegalia catechu tree, native to Asia.
Good reading and sources
- Senegalia catechu on WikipediaEncyclopedia
- More pictures on Wikimedia CommonsPictures
- Wikidata recordOpen data
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Senegalia catechu", 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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