Vaccinium bracteatum dye
A bluish-violet dye from the leaves of an Asian bilberry shrub
No single value: Vaccinium bracteatum dye is a material, and its colour varies. The background shows its family, blue.
Vaccinium bracteatum is a shrub or small tree native to East and Southeast Asia. Its leaves yield a bluish-violet dye, used locally for colouring hair, vinegar, and food; when cooked with rice, the dye turns black.
- The dye is bluish-violet and comes from the leaves.
- It turns black when cooked with rice.
- Used for hair dye and colouring vinegar in China.
- The plant also produces edible dark purple fruit.
What colour is Vaccinium bracteatum dye?
Vaccinium bracteatum dye is a bluish-violet colouring substance made from the leaves of a shrub known as sea bilberry or Asiatic bilberry. The plant itself grows as a small tree or large shrub, producing dark purple edible fruit. The dye stands out for its ability to colour both food and hair, and it changes to black when cooked with rice.
Where does Vaccinium bracteatum dye come from?
The dye comes from Vaccinium bracteatum, a plant native to regions across East and Southeast Asia, including China, Japan, and Taiwan. Local people have long collected the fruit and used the leaves for dyeing. The plant is semi-cultivated in China, and its use as a dye is part of local tradition.
How is Vaccinium bracteatum dye made?
To make the dye, leaves of Vaccinium bracteatum are collected and processed to extract their colour. The resulting bluish-violet dye is used directly for hair and food. When the dye is heated with rice, it changes from bluish-violet to black, which is valued in cooking.
Where Vaccinium bracteatum dye is used
This dye is used in several ways: as a traditional hair dye, for colouring vinegar, and as a food colouring. Its ability to turn black when cooked with rice adds visual interest to dishes. The fruit of the plant is also eaten locally.
Blue around the world
What the blue family means from country to country.
Indigo dyeing, called aizome, clothed ordinary people in deep blue through the Edo period. The men's national football team plays in blue and is nicknamed Samurai Blue.
Festival and celebrationPrideSource: Japan national football teamPolitics is split into two camps named for party colours. The Pan-Blue camp, led by the Kuomintang, favours closer ties with China.
Politics and protestSource: Pan-Blue CoalitionLapis lazuli has been mined in the mountains of Badakhshan for more than six thousand years. Ground to powder it gave ultramarine, the costliest blue in European painting.
Royalty and powerSacred and holyAweSource: Lapis lazuliThe chadari is a full-length covering for women with a mesh panel over the eyes. In Kabul and the north it is most often a light blue.
Protection and healingSource: BurqaThe blue band of the flag stands for the wish of the Armenian people to live under peaceful skies. The red above it is for the highlands and the struggle to survive.
Politics and protestHopeSource: Flag of ArmeniaThe flag is sky blue, white and sky blue, created by Manuel Belgrano in 1812. National teams are called the Albiceleste, the white and sky blue.
Politics and protestPrideSource: Flag of ArgentinaShades and relatives of Vaccinium bracteatum dye
There are several accepted varieties of Vaccinium bracteatum, but the sources do not describe differences in dye colour or use among them. The dye may be confused with other natural blue or violet dyes from plants, but its blackening property when cooked with rice is distinctive.
Questions people ask about Vaccinium bracteatum dye
What colour is the dye from Vaccinium bracteatum?
The dye is bluish-violet when first extracted from the leaves, but turns black when cooked with rice.
Where does the name Vaccinium bracteatum come from?
Vaccinium bracteatum is the scientific name for the sea bilberry or Asiatic bilberry, a shrub native to East and Southeast Asia.
How is the dye used?
Locally, the dye is used for colouring hair, vinegar, and food. It is especially noted for turning black when cooked with rice.
Is the fruit of Vaccinium bracteatum edible?
Yes, the plant produces dark purple edible fruit that is collected and eaten by local people.
Good reading and sources
- Vaccinium bracteatum on WikipediaEncyclopedia
- More pictures on Wikimedia CommonsPictures
- Wikidata recordOpen data
The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Vaccinium bracteatum", 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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