250 



TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



CHAP. 



Habitat. 



Naturalized 

 in the West 

 Indies. 



The seeds. 



The dye. 



History of 

 the dye. 



Uses of the 

 dye. 



LOGWOOD. Hamatoxylum campechianum. 



THE logwood tree is a native of Central America, and it is 

 found in great abundance in the lands bordering on the bay 

 of Campeachy, hence its botanical name. It was intro- 

 duced into Jamaica from Honduras by Dr. Barham, in 1715, 

 and later on it was carried to other parts of the West Indies. 

 In Jamaica and Dominica it has spread by self-sown seeds 

 over large districts of the coastlands as well as some parts of 

 the interior. Dr. Macfadyen, in his flora of Jamaica, pub- 

 lished in 1837, says : " Few plants have been so completely 

 naturalized. It thrives in every situation, with the excep- 

 tion of the loftier mountains, and, with the Opoponax and 

 Cashaw, occupies our plains." The seeds, being winged, 

 are often carried far away from the parent plant by the 

 wind, and to this fact is due the wide distribution of the 

 plant. 



Logwood is used in medicine as an astringent, but its prin- 

 cipal use is as a dye. It was introduced into Europe by the 

 Spaniards some time after the discovery of America by 

 Columbus, and it was used in England as a dye in the reign 

 of Queen Elizabeth. The dyers of those days, however, knew 

 nothing about mordants which are chemical substances 

 used to fix the colours in fabrics and the result was that the 

 logwood dyes washed out from the cloths. The people, 

 therefore, became greatly prejudiced against logwood, and 

 in the 23rd year of Elizabeth's reign an act of parliament 

 was passed prohibiting its use and ordering it to be burned 

 wherever it was found. This law was not repealed until 

 nearly a century afterwards, by which time the dyers had 

 learnt to fix the colours permanently. The chief use now-a- 

 days of logwood is for dyeing woollen goods "on which it 

 produces, with various mordants, shades of blue from a light 

 lavender to a dense blue black according to the amount of 

 logwood used." It is used also by calico printers, cloth 

 dyers and hat makers, and the fine black silkiness of the 



