DYER'S GREEN- WEED. — 6'^;2e'5^a 



Tinctoria, 



Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandria. Nat. Ord. LEQUMlNOSiS. 

 Pea and Bean Teibe. 



Another familiar name for this plant is, 

 Woad- waxen. It is frequent in England, on 

 pastm-es, field-borders and thickets, and is 

 common, too, in the Lowlands of Scotland. 

 Its pale yellow butterfly-shaped flowers open 

 in July and August. The stem of the plant 

 is about one or two feet high, and in some 

 specimens the blossoms become double, as in 

 those which grow on the rocks near Ilkley, in 

 Yorkshire. The plant yields a good yellow 

 colom% and is used by dyers. The author of 

 the '' Journal of a Naturalist" says, " Our 

 poorer people, a few years ago, used to collect 

 it by cart-loads, about the month of July, and 

 the season of Woad-waxen was a little harvest 

 to them; but it interfered greatly with our hay- 

 making. Women could gain about two shil- 

 lings a-day clear of expenses by gathering it.'' 

 The collecting the Dyer's-weed is a very 

 laborious employment, as the roots extend a 

 good way into the soil. The writer referred 



