INDIGO. 



365 



The following shows the variations in our sources of supply of this 

 (ije-stu{f in twenty years : 



1855. 







Quantity. 



Value. 







Holland 



French possessions in India 



cwts. 

 338 

 806 

 2,102 

 55,415 

 318 

 781 



£ 



9,261 

 22,084 

 52,025 

 1,518,371 

 7,871 

 19,443 









59,760 



1,629,055 





1875. 





France and French possessions 



374 

 838 

 435 

 643 

 9,115 

 670 

 186 

 12,135 

 34,470 

 742 



12,619 

 19,200 

 12,350 

 13,978 



182,955 

 18,816 

 6,249 



279,116 

 1,057,036 

 16,534 









59,608 



1,618,853 





The plants which yield this dye-stuff chiefly belong to the genera 

 Indigofera and Isatis, but indigos are also obtained from : 



Nerium tinctorium, Kottl In the Carnatic. 



Ruellia sp. .. ... Assam and Pegu. 



Tephrosia tinctoria and T. apoUinea .. .v .. Egypt and India. 



Polygala tinctoria Arabia. 



Polygonum Ghinense, P. tinctorium, P, barbatum, 



and P. perfoUatum, Lin China and Japan. 



Polygonum aviculare .. . . Asia and Africa. 



Wrightia tinctoria, K. Brown Pala indigo of India. 



Amorpha fruticosa Carolina indigo. 



Baptisia tinctoria Wild indigo of the United 



States, 



The 'pastel or woad of Europe is the colouring matter of Isatis 

 tinctoria. 



The species described by Linnaeus were : Indigofera Anil, I. tinctoria, 

 I. argentea, and I. caroliniana, plants which grow in a wild state in 

 India, South America, and Africa. Modern botanists have largely ex- 

 tended the list of species. DecandoUe raised the number to over one 

 hundred and forty, besides a host of varieties. M. Perottet has well 

 described in his ' Flora of Senegambia ' twenty-five species ; and in 

 his ' Art de I'lndigotier,' Paris, 1842, has published much interesting 

 matter on the whole subject of the culture and manufacture of this 



2 A 2 



