January  2,  1902. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
5 
British  Dye  Plants. 
The  dye-plants  of  our  own  country  have  long  ceased  to  possess 
any  general  interest.  The  introduction  of  foreign  dyes,  supeiior 
in  colour  and  in  many  cases  in  durability,  during  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  rapidly  displaced  the  native  dye-plants, 
except  in  certain  specially  out-of-the-way  localities,  such  as  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland  and  certain  parts  of  Ireland,  whore  they 
are  still  employed.  We  owe  to  the  broad-mindedness  of  Linnaeus 
a  record  of  such  native  dye-plants  as  were  in  use  in  Sweden  and 
the  North  of  Europe  during  the  first-named  period.  In  Ids 
“  Araoenitates  Academicae  ”  he  published  a  paper  by  E.  Jorln,  of 
Upsala,  containing  an  enumei’ation  of  the  plants  in  (nu'stiou.  In 
Witliering’s  “  Systematic  Arrangement  of  British  Plants.” 
numerous  intere.king  notes  are  appended  to  the  descrijitions  of 
many  species.  Amongst  these  notes  one  finds  recorded  their 
tinctorial  properties.  This  information  appears  largely  to  have 
been  derived  from  the  “  Amoenitates,”  but  by  no  means  entirely  ; 
for  quotations  from  Lightfoot’s  “  Flora  Scotica  ”  (1777),  Pennant’s 
“Tours  in  Scotland”  (178‘2),  and 
Rutty’s  “  Natural  History  of  the 
County  of  Dublin  ”  (1772)  are  also 
made. 
The  fourth  edition  of  Withering’s 
work,  published  in  four  octavo 
volumes  (1801),  enumerates  soine 
fifty  species  as  possessing  tinctorial 
properties.  During  the  past  two 
seasons,  1900  and  1901,  I  have,  with 
the  help  of  many  botanical  friends, 
who  have  aided  me  by  collecting 
material,  put  to  the  test  of  actual 
experiment  about  sixty  reputed  dye- 
plants,  the  result  of  which  I  have  the 
honour  of  submitting  to  the  Scientific 
Committee.  The  object  in  view  was, 
not  so  much  to  test  exhaustively  the 
capabilities  of  these  plants  by  the  aid 
of  modern  mordants,  as  to  see  what 
colours  they  would  produce  with  such 
simple  chemicals  as  were  available  by 
our  ancestors  some  two  or  three  cen¬ 
turies  ago,  when  home-spinning  and 
home-dyeing  were  carried  on  in  every 
house  in  our  country  districts.  These 
substances  were,  first  and  foremost, 
alum  (a  salt  known  to  Pliny),  cop¬ 
peras  (sulphate  of  iron),  pearlash, 
ammonia,  and  lime.  These  sixty 
p  ants  have  yielded  some  150  varie¬ 
ties  of  colour,  the  specimens  of  which 
are  before  you,  arranged,  not  as  a 
dyer  would  arrange  them,  according 
to  colour,  but  botanically,  in  their 
natural  orders. 
It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that 
some  shade  of  yellow  is  the  most  fre¬ 
quent  colour  the  wools  have  taken. 
In  the  majority  of  cases  this  is  pro¬ 
bably  due  to  xanthophyt,  and  is  of 
doubtful  stability.  In  conducting 
these  experiments  it  was  noticed 
again  and  again  how  almost  every 
green  plant,  when  boiled  with  the 
wool,  gave  it  a  yellow  colour  on  the 
addition  of  alum  as  the  mordant.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  alum  analysed  the  chlorophyll  by  fixing  the  xantho- 
phyl  upon  the  wool.  Such  diverse  plants  as  Thalictrum  flavum,  Aii- 
thyUis  Vulneraria,  Myrica  Gale,  Stachys  sylvaticai,  iS.  palustris. 
Polygonum  Persicaria,  P.  Hydropiper,  Humulus  Lupulus,  as  well 
-as  the  leaves  of  Pear,  Plum,  Birch,  Willow,  Ac.,  all  gave  this 
colour. 
These  yellows  are  all  pale,  and  are  darkened  by  alkalies,  either 
potash  or  ammonia.  The  yellow  from  Senecio  Jacobaea  is  largely 
used  in  the  Highlands,  where  this  plant  is  known  by  the  name  of 
“  Stinking  Willey,”  a  designation  given  it  in  detestation  of  the 
general  who  commanded  the  English  forces  at  the  Battle  of  Cullo- 
den.  Certain  yellows,  however,  had  obtained  so  great  a  reputa- 
tation  as  dyes  in  the  time  of  the  older  botanists  that  they  then 
received  the  word  tinctoria  for  their  specific  names — viz.,  Glenista 
-  *  A  paper  read  before  the  Scientific  Committee  of  tlie  Royal 
Horticultural  Society  by  Dr.  Plowright  Abridged  from  the  R.H.S. 
Journal,  December,  '1901.  “This  paper  was  illustrated  by  a  most 
interesting  exhibit  of  three  very  long  series  of  150  skeins  of  wools 
dyed  with  native  dyes.  The  paper  unavoidably  loses  a  little  of  its 
interest  and  much  of  its  attractiveness  by  the  impossibility  of 
reproducing  all  the  colours,  tints,  and  shades  obtained.  It  must 
suffice  to  say  that  the  general  tone  and  effect  of  the  various  dyes  was 
very  distinctly  and  beautifully  in  the  direction  of  what  may  be  best 
described  as  High-art  shades.” 
DENDROniVM  Lovvt,  introiluced  from  Borneo,  1861. 
tinctoria,  Anthemis  tinctoria,  and  Serratula  tinctoria.  The  best 
yellow  is  produced  from  Reseda  Luteola  (Weld),  a  plant  used 
by  the  professional  dyer  until  quite  recently.  It  owes  its  tinc¬ 
torial  properties  to  an  alkaloid — luteolin.  Genista  tinctoria  was 
used  well  into  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  ;  it  gives  a 
good  permanent  yellow,  but  not  so  pure  a  colour  as  Weld.  For¬ 
merly,  however,  it  was  preferred  by  the  dyers  to  all  others  for 
wool  that  was  to  be  dyed  green.  This  constituted  the  green 
colour  of  the  cloth  for  which  the  town  of  Kendal  was  celebrated 
in  bygone  times,  reference  to  which  occurs  in  Shakespeare,  in 
1  Henry  IV.,  ii.,  4,  “How  couldst  thou  know  these  men  in 
Kendal  green?  ”  and  also  in  Sir  Walt('r  Scott’s  “  Lay  of  the  Last 
Minstrel,”  iv'.,  14,  “The  Kendal  archers  all  in  green.” 
Three  of  the  Composita?  give  yellows  approaching  orange^ — 
namely,  Anthemis  tinctoria,  of  which  the  tint  is  the  lightest,  but 
admittedly  fast.  Chrysanthemum  segetuni,  and  Bidens  tri¬ 
partita,  the  lasLnamed  being  the  most  beautiful.  It  is  developed 
only  on  the  addition  of  alum.  Of  browns  there  are  many,  a  round 
dozen,  from  Alder  bark  (Alnus  glutinosa)  alone,  variously  modified 
by  potash,  which  gives  tints  of  red,  or  “  saddened  by  copperas,” 
which  gives  shades  of  black.  These 
colours  ai*e  all  tannin  derivatives. 
Somewhat  similar  colours  are  ob¬ 
tained  from  Birch  bark  (Betula  alba), 
and  Oak  (Quercus  Robur).  Yellow 
browns  are  obtained  from  “  Ling  ” 
Heather  (Calluna  vulgaris),  and  the 
barks  of  the  two  Rhamni  (R.  Fran- 
gula  and  cathartica).  The  fine  russet 
brown  obtained  from  the  lichen 
known  as  “oaklungs”  (Sticta  pul- 
monacea)  is  one  of  the  best  in  the 
series.  The  well  -  known  crottle 
browns,  from  Parmelia  saxatilis, 
omphaloides,  eaperata,  and  physodes, 
do  not  differ  greatly. 
Probably  the  riche.st  and  be.st 
brown  is  that  from  fresh  walnut 
husks — a  dye  used  by  the  professional 
dyers  up  to  quite  a  recent  date.  No 
mordant  being  required,  the  wool 
dyed  by  means  of  this  substance  is 
soft  and  free  from  all  harshness.  Not 
far  behind  it  is  the  colour  obtained 
from  the  rhizome  of  the  white  Water 
Lily  (Nympheea  alba),  a  dyestuff  used 
in  the  Hebrides  in  the  time  of  Pen¬ 
nant’s  visit  (1782).  Of  simple  greens 
there  are  not  many  representatives, 
the  best  and  most  durable  being  ob¬ 
tained  from  a  ground  dye  of  Woad 
“  topped  ”  with  weld  (Reseda 
Luteola).  This  probably  constituted 
the  Lincoln  green  of  Robin  Hood 
fame.  It  is  alluded  to  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott  in  “  The  Lady  of  the  Lake  ” 
(v.  17),  “  Four  mounted  squires  in 
Lincoln  green.”  Wool  thus  dyed  may 
be  obtained  in  many  shades,  depend¬ 
ing  upon  the  depth  of  the  original 
blue.  Some  of  the  lighter  shades  are 
very  beautiful,  approaching  the  so- 
called  grass  green,  to  which  Chaucer 
refers  in  his  poem  of  “  The  Flower 
and  the  Leaf”:  “Freshly  y turfed, 
whereof  the  gi’eene  grass 
mo.st  like  to  greene  wool.” 
In  addition  to  the  Kendal  green  previously  referred  to,  speci¬ 
mens  are  shown  in  which  the  yellow  has  been  supplied  by  the 
fresh  inner  bark  of  the  Crab  Apple  (Pyrus  Malus),  of  the  Ash 
(Fraxinus  excelsior),  and  by  the  root  of  the  common  Dock  (Runiox 
obtusifolius).  Less  brilliant  greens  are  obtained  from  the  ripe 
beri-ies  of  the  common  Privet  with  alum,  and  the  flowering  tops 
of  the  common  Reed  (Phragmirts  communis)  with  copperas.  Not 
a  single  really  good  red  is  obtainable  from  any  British  plant, 
whereas  Sir  Thomas  Wardle  found  red  to  be  the  commonest  colour 
in  the  dye-plants  of  Asia  when  he  examined  them  some  years 
ago.  The  beautiful  but  fugacious  cudbears  from  the  maceration 
with  ammonia  of  the  thallus  Lecanora  tartarea,  LTmbilicaria 
polyrhiza,  and  Urceolaria  sciaiposa  are  represented. 
The  dull  reds  of  Potontilla  Tormentilla  and  Comarum  palustre 
require  a  trace  of  potash  to  develop  them.  The  fast  if  not  bril¬ 
liant  madder  red  of  the  root  of  Galium  verum,  with  the  more 
beautiful  pale  orange,  are  the  only  representatives  of  the 
Rubiacese  shown.  Perhap;S  one  of  the  specimens  nearest  to  red 
is  that  dyed  by  the  fresh  inner  bark  of  Betula  alba.  One  nlant 
only  yields  a  blue  colour — Isatis  tinctoria,  the  well-known  Woad. 
Various  shades  are  represented  which  possess  certain  peculiarities 
in  tint  that  are  gi-eatlv  admired  by  those  persons  who  appreciate 
“  art  colours.”  Sir.  W.  Croysdale,  of  Leeds,  tells  me  that  these 
peculiar  tints  can  be  produced  in  indigo  in  certain  conditions  of 
