[Fr. and Sp., according to Devic, prob. ad. Arab. al the + saçārah juice pressed out, extract, f. saçara to press, extract. This is confirmed by the variant form azala ‘la graine de garance qu’on apporte de la Turquie asiatique est appelée azala ou izari’ (Bose, Dict. d’hist. nat., in Littré Supplt.)] A commercial name of the Madder of the Levant.
1850. Bot. Gaz., 84. The madder, called by the ancient Greeks Erythrodanon, now bears the name of Alizari.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 158. The root of the Rubia peregrina, called in the Levant Alizari, was the material to which dyers had recourse, and large quantities of it are at the present day imported into Europe from Smyrna, under the name of Turkey roots.
