Pliny, a Roman herbalist contemporary with Dioscorides, independently made very similar claims for the medicinal properties of Alkanna tinctoria : It stains the hands the colour of blood; it is used for imparting rich colours to wool. Applied with cerate it heals ulcerous sores, those of the aged in particular: it is employed also for the cure of burns. These are notably the medicinal properties claimed independently for Alkanna tinctoria in many of the ancient herbal texts. In Europe and North America , Alkanna tinctoria is mainly used today as a pigment for food coloring and cosmetics.
