﻿62 SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



42181 and 42182— Continued. 



is required to sow an acre. It germinates in three or four days, and 

 about three months later the flowers appear, when the plants are ready 

 for harvesting. The plants are usually cut down to within a few inches 

 of the ground, tied up in bundles, and carried fresh to the factory. 

 The stumps left in the ground will afterwards ' ratoon,' and two to 

 four cuttings may be obtained from the same roots within the year. To 

 produce the dye the whole plant is subjected to a process of fermenta- 

 tion and churning. The freshly cut bundles are placed in huge vats pro- 

 vided with a tap at the bottom ; the top is weighted down with planks 

 and water laid on so as to cover the whole. Fermentation sets in and is 

 allowed to go on for 12 to 16 hours, being' stopped when the leaves become 

 a pale color. The liquid is run off by the tap into a second cistern and 

 is kept constantly agitated by either wading coolies, who beat with 

 paddles, or by a mechanical contrivance, for two or three hours, after which 

 the indigo settles in the bottom in the form of bluish mud. This, after 

 draining off the water, is put into bags which are hung to dry, being after- 

 wards cut into squares and stamped and further dried for export. About 

 8 pounds of leaves will yield one-half ounce of indigo. Good cultivation 

 yields an annual return of from 300 to 500 pounds of indigo per acre." 

 (MacMilian, Handbook of Tropical Gardening and Planting, pp. 450 

 and 451.) 



42182. Isatis tjnctoeia L- Brassicacere. Woad. 

 " Isatis tinctoria, the dyer's woad, is said to have been originally a 



native of southeastern Europe, from whence it has spread by means of 

 cultivation and become naturalised in most parts of Europe as far north 

 as Sweden, and also in some parts of Asia. It is a biennial, growing 

 from 18 inches to 3 or 4 feet high, with a smooth straight stem, branches 

 toward the top, the root leaves stalked, inversely egg shaped or oblong, 

 and coarsely toothed, the upper ones narrow lance shaped, with prominent 

 auricles at the base. The pods are rather more than half an inch long, 

 broad, and very blunt at the top, but tapering to the base. Before the 

 use of indigo became common among European dyers, the blue coloring 

 matter called woad, obtained from this plant, was an article of great 

 importance, and the plant was extensively cultivated ; but the intro- 

 duction of indigo has almost entirely superseded it, and it is now only 

 grown to a limited extent and used chiefly by woolen dyers for mix- 

 ing with indigo, in order to excite fermentation. It is generally prepared 

 by grinding the leaves into paste, which is then carefully fermented in 

 heaps and afterwards made into balls or bricks for sale. The use of woad 

 as a dye dates from very early times. Dioscorides, Pliny, and others 

 mention its use for dyeing wool; and Csesar relates that the ancient 

 Britons used it for staining their bodies, the word Britain being derived 

 from the Celtic britli or brit, ' painted.' in reference to this custom." 

 (Lindley, Treasury of Botany, vol. 1, p. 628.) 



42183 to 42199. 



From Kew, England. Presented by Sir David Prain, director, Royal 

 Botanic Gardens. Received March 20, 1916. 



42183. Adenocakpus foliolosus (Dry and.) DC. Fabacese. 



" The stalks in this species are thickly covered with small leaves, which 

 give the whole plant an outre appearance; hence the name 'foliolosus,' 



