378 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



other in the relative quantity of colouring matter 

 which they contain in the different shades of colour 

 which they impart, and in their degree of perma- 

 nence. Our own native weld first claims our at- 

 tention. No substance in either the vegetable or 

 mineral kingdom is known which produces a finer 

 yellow than that obtained from weld or wold, or, as 

 it is sometimes called, dyer's weed. 



This plant is well known throughout Europe. It 

 is cultivated near Paris and other parts of France ; 

 it is likewise indigenous to England, and is found 

 growing spontaneously in many parts of the country 

 on uncultivated wastes. " It thrives," says the 

 author of the Journal of a Naturalist, " in all our 

 abandoned stone quarries, upon the' rejected rub- 

 bish of the lime-kiln, and waste places of the roads, 

 apparantly a perfectly indigenous plant. Unmindful 

 of frost or of drought, it preserves a degree of verdure 

 when nearly all other vegetation is seared up by these 

 extremes in exposed situations." The wild weld 

 does not, however, abound with as much colouring 

 matter as that which is cultivated, although it grows 

 larger and higher. This plant is therefore cultivated 

 for its colouring produce in several of our counties, 

 especially in Kent, Herefordshire, and about Don- 

 caster in Yorkshire. It is not an object of careful 

 husbandry, as it will grow on the worst soils, without 

 the aid of manure. 



Weld, or Reseda luteola, is a biennal plant. Its root 

 consists of only a few ligneous fibres. Radical leaves 

 spring forth from this of about four inches long and 

 half an inch wide, spreading circularly near the 

 ground ; they are soft to the touch, and of a lively 

 green colour. In good soils the stem which springs 

 up from amidst these leaves is often branchy and 

 furnished with narrow leaves like the radical ones, 

 but smaller in proportion as they approach the 



