Extraction of dyes fromDelphinium Zalilflowers and dyeing silk yarns

Delphinium Zalil from the family Ranunculaceae grows naturally in mountainous area of northeast of Iran. It has beautiful yellow flowers which contain flavonoids. In this study, the flowers of D. Zalil were collected, dried, powdered, and extracted with different solvent systems. Quercetin is identified as the main aglycone responsible for the color in these flowers. The flowers were then used for dyeing silk yarns. The color strength values were used to optimize the dyeing process. Pre-mordanting was proved to increase the dye absorption which may lead to an optimum usage of mordant. This would certainly be of special interest to environmentalists. Dyed silk yarns presented good light fastness compared to Blue Scale.