CRUCIFER®. 292 
amplexicaul, sagittate, entire. Pods narrowly oblong, slightly 
narrowed towards the base, truncate or rounded at the apex. 
In cultivated fields and in chalk-pits, but certainly not native, 
and scarcely even naturalized except in the chalk-pits near Guildford, 
Surrey. 
[ England, Scotland]. Biennial. Early Summer. 
Stem erect, 2 to 4 feet high, branched at the top. Radical 
leaves ovate or lanceolate, attenuated at the base into long 
footstalks. Stem leaves sessile, sagittate at the base; the lower 
ones oblanceolate ; upper ones oblong - lanceolate or "lanceolate. 
Corymbs crowded at the ends of the branches. Flowers about } inch 
across ; sepals yellow; petals narrowly oblanceolate, twice as long 
as the sepals, TELE Fruiting raceme very short ; pedicels very 
slender, deflexed, + to 3 inch long. Pods pendulous, about 2 inch 
long and % inch broad, glabrous, at first straw - coloured, but 
purplish brown when ripe; the pod itself, which contains the seed, 
is elliptical, with a longitudinal rib prolonged beyond the base and 
apex until it reaches the base and apex of the wing, which is rather 
more than thrice as broad as the cell of the pod, and much less hard 
in consistency. Seeds yellowish brown, three times as long us 
broad. Radical leaves not glabrous, with short distant hairs; stem 
leaves glabrous and glaucous. Stem glabrous towards the top, ancl 
nearly so throughout. 
Dyer’s Woad. 
French, Pastel des Teinturiers. German, Firber- Waid. 
The history of Woad as a British plant commences with that of this island, when 
Cesar found the natives stained with it. At this time it must have been a plentiful 
inhabitant of the country, but afterwards, probably from its extensive use, it became less 
common, and we find, our Saxon forefathers importing Woad to dye their homespun 
cloth. Their name for it was Wad, or Waad, whence the English word in use for the 
colour itself. The plant is still cultivated in this country on account of its colouring 
properties, chiefly in Lincolnshire, and is used not so much to produce a blue colour 
on cloths as to form a base or mordant for a black dye. The cultivation of Woad was 
formerly carried on by people who devoted themselves entirely to it ; and as crops of 
the plant are not successful for more than two years on the same piece of land, they 
never stayed long in one place, but hiring land in various districts, led a wandering life 
with their families, and gained their living by their crops ; now, however, many farmers 
devote a portion of their land to the growth of Woad, alternating the spots year after 
year. The foliage is the part of the plant used ; the leaves are picked off first when 
the herb is in flower, the lower ones being taken just when turning yellowish ; the 
gathering is repeated three or four times at intervals of a few weeks ; but the first 
picking is the best. The leaves are dried a little in the sun, then they are ground in 
a mill to a pasty mass, which is formed into heaps exposed to the air, but protected 
from rain, until it ferments. A crust which forms over it is carefully prevented from 
breaking, and when fermentation is complete, usually in about a fortnight, the mass is 
