584 DOJDECANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. Reseda. 
. one of the first plants that grow on the rubbish thrown out of coal-pits. 
It is very common in Gloucestershire by the sides of roads, and also 
about Manchester; probably as Mr. Caley thinks, from scattered seeds 
from the dye-houses. (Between Crosby and the sea, near Liverpool. Dr. 
Bostock. Common on waste ground in Norfolk and Suffolk, in places 
where none was ever grown for the dyers. Mr. Woodward. Near New 
Inn, and opposite Mr. Penrice’s house, Salford, near Alcester. Purton. 
On the point near Beaumaris. Welsh Bot. Road sides around Edin¬ 
burgh. Dr.Greville. Between Shaldon and Ringmore, near Teignmouth. 
E.) A. June—July.* 
R. ltPtea. All the leaves three-cleft: the lower winged: calyx six- 
cleft. E.) 
* This plant affords a beautiful yellow dye for cotton, woollen, mohair, silk, and linen, 
and is that which is most commonly used for that purpose, as it gives the brightest tint. 
Blue cloths dipped in a decoction of it become green. The yellow colour ®f the paint 
called Dutch Pink, is obtained from the same source. The tinging quality resides in 
the stems and roots, and it is cultivated in sandy soils, rich soil rendering the stalk hollow 
and not so good. (Weld is commonly produced with very little trouble, but both quantity 
and quality may be improved by a better system of culture.—If foreigners derive sufficient 
encouragement to import it, (as into Bristol from France, and it sells in that city for ten 
shillings per cvvt. in a dry state : Journ. Nat.) notwithstanding the charges of freight, port 
duties, and various consequent expenses, why can it not be grown with us, and afford 
superior remuneration, not having such deductions to diminish the profits ? It is usually 
sovvn with barley or oats, the l'eaping of which does no material injury; but it may be 
worth while to treat it as a separate crop, ploughing and harrowing well, sowing the seed 
in August; in about two months hoe, and again in March and May. About the close of 
June, when the flower is in full vigour, the plant should be carefully pulled, a sufficient 
quantity of stems being left for seed till September. Thus may be obtained a very large 
produce per acre, which should be treated as flax, set up in small handfulls to dry in the 
field, tied up in bundles and housed dry, being caieful to stack it loosely, that the air 
may pass between and prevent fermentation. The crop being so early removed, the ground 
may be conveniently prepared for wheat the same season. Among a great number of 
authors whom we have consulted, Miller alone suggests this to be the plant with which the 
ancient inhabitants of this island painted themselves, and not the Woad, as has been 
supposed ; for the Dyer’s-weed is a native here, whereas the Woad has been since 
introduced into this country.” This obscure subject is never likely to be satisfactorily 
illustrated, however interesting be the inquiry. It is next to impossible to carry the 
synonyms correctly through the more ancient authorities. Where next to no characteristic 
descriptions are given, to identify the plants in use for particular purposes eighteen cen¬ 
turies ago, requires a more penetrating acumen than the most expert naturalist will pretend 
to. That Weld may have been, as a wild plant, much more abundantly procurable than 
Woad, (though we are not inclined to deny the latter being indigenous), seems probable, 
and therefore the more likely to attract the attention of a barbarous people; but that 
these savages more obviously stained themselves of other colours than yellow, we are 
unquestionably assured, (vid. Plin. lib. xxii. c. 1 . “ jEthiopum colorem imitantes; ” &c.) 
so that if Weld was applied to such a purpose, it could not have been exclusively so, but 
probably, in combination with other ingedients, and from the consonance of the names 
Weld, Wold, (as sometimes spelt), and Woad, we could imagine the term to be 
rather general than specific. The most ancient classical names of what we now designate 
Weld, are descriptive of its yellow dye, as Pliny, lib. xxxiii. cap. 5, Lutea \ (a) Vitruvius, 
lib. vii. Lutum ; and likewise Virgil in his fourth Eclogue. The name of Wild Woad has 
also been given to this plant, which tends but to increase the confusion, as connecting it 
with a totally distinct herb, Isatis tinctoria, which see. E.) Cattle will not eat it, but 
sheep sometimes browse it a little. ( Hylceus annulatus is found upon it. E.) 
(a) (Vid. Bostock’s Notes on Pliny.) 
