CHAPTER IV.

BRITISH DYE PLANTS

The introduction of foreign dye woods and other dyes during the 17th and 18th centuries rapidly displaced the native dye plants, except in certain out of the way places such as the Highlands and parts of Ireland. Some of these British dye plants had been used from early historical times for dyeing. Some few are still in use in commercial dye work (pear, sloe, and a few others); but their disuse was practically completed during the 19th century when the chemical dyes ousted them from the market.

The majority of these plants are not very important as dyes, and could not probably now be collected in sufficient quantities. Some few however are important, such as woad, weld, heather, walnut, alder, oak, some lichens; and many of the less important ones would produce valuable colours if experiments were made with the right mordants. Those which have been in use in the Highlands are most of them good dyes. Among these are Ladies Bedstraw, whortleberry, yellow iris, bracken, bramble, meadow sweet, alder, heather and many others. The yellow dyes are the most plentiful, and many of these are good fast colours. Practically no good red, in quantity, is obtainable. Madder is the only reliable red dye among plants, and that is no longer indigenous in England. Most of the dye plants require a preparation of the material to be dyed, with alum, or some other mordant, but a few, such as Barberry, and some of the lichens, are substantive dyes, and require no mordant.

PLANTS WHICH DYE RED.--

Potentil. _Potentilla Tormentilla._ Roots.

Wild Madder. _Rubia peregrina._

Lady's Bedstraw. _Galium verum._ Roots.

Gromwell. _Lithospermum arvense._

Marsh Potentil. _Potentilla Comarum._ Roots.

Birch. _Betula alba._ Fresh inner bark.

Bed-straw. _Galium boreale._ Roots.

Common Sorrel. _Rumex acetosa._ Roots.

Evergreen Alkanet. _Anchusa sempervirens._ With chloride of tin.

Dyer's Woodruff. _Asperula tinctoria._ Roots.

PLANTS WHICH DYE BLUE.--

Woad. _Isatis Tinctoria._

Whortleberry or blaeberry. _Vaccinium Myrtillus._ Berries.

Elder. _Sambucus nigra._ Berries.

Privet. _Ligustrum vulgare._ Berries, with alum and salt.

[2]Sloe. _Prunus communis._ Fruit.

Red bearberry. _Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi._

Dogs Mercury. _Mercurialis perennis._

Yellow Iris. _Iris Pseudacorus._ Root.

Devil's Bit. _Scabiosa succisa._ Leaves prepared like woad.

PLANTS WHICH DYE YELLOW.--

Weld. _Reseda luteola._

Meadow Rue. _Thalictrum flavum._ Roots.

Marsh Marigold. _Caltha palustris._ Flowers.

S. John's Wort. _Hypericum perforatum._

Heath. _Erica vulgaris._ With Alum.

Spindle tree. _Euonymus Europæus._

Buckthorn. _Rhamnus frangula_ and _R. cathartica._ Berries and Bark.

[3]Dyer's Greenwood. _Genista tinctoria._ Young shoots and leaves.

Kidney Vetch. _Anthyllis Vulnararia._

Marsh Potentil. _Potentilla Comarum._

Ling. _Calluna vulgaris._

Yellow Centaury. _Chlora perfoliata._

Hornbeam. _Carpinus Betulus._ Bark.

Hedge stachys. _Stachys palustris._

Polygonum Persecaria.

Polygonum Hydropiper.

Hop. _Humulus lupulus._

Stinking Willy, or Ragweed. _Senecio Jacobæa._

Yellow Camomile. _Anthemis tinctoria._

Common dock. _Rumex obtusifolius._ Root.

[4]Sawwort.

_Serratula tinctoria._

Gorse. _Ulex Europæus._ Bark, flowers and young shoots.

Broom. _Sarothamnus scoparius._

Bracken. _Pteris aquilina._ Roots. Also young tops.

Way-faring tree. _Viburnum lantana._ Leaves, with alum.

Bramble. _Rubus fructicosus._

Nettle. _Urtica._ With alum.

Bog Myrtle or Sweet Gale. _Myrica Gale._

Teasel. _Dipsacus Sylvestris._

Sundew. _Drosera._

Barberry. _Berberis vulgaris._ Stem and root.

Bog asphodel. _Narthecium ossifragum._

Agrimony. _Agrimonia Eupatoria._

Yellow corydal. _Corydalis lutea._

Privet. _Ligustrum vulgare._ Leaves.

Crab Apple. _Pyrus Malus._ Fresh inner bark.

Ash. _Fraxinus excelsior._ Fresh inner bark.

Pear. Leaves.

Poplar. Leaves.

Plum. Leaves.

Birch. Leaves.

[5]Willow. Leaves.

PLANTS WHICH DYE GREEN.--

Privet. _Ligustrum vulgare._ Berries and leaves, with alum.

Flowering reed. _Phragmites communis._ Flowering tops, with copperas.

Elder. _Sambucus nigra._ Leaves with alum.

Nettle. _Urtica dioica_ and _U. Urens_.

Lily of the valley. _Convalaria majalis._ Leaves.

Larch. Bark, with alum.

PLANTS WHICH DYE BROWN.--

Whortleberry. _Vaccinium Myrtillus._ Young shoots, with nut galls.

Larch. Pine needles, collected in Autumn.

Walnut. Root and green husks of nut.

Water Lily. _Nymphæa alba._ Root.

Alder. _Alnus glutinosa._ Bark.

Birch. _Betula alba._ Bark.

Oak. _Quercus Rohur._ Bark.

Red currants, with alum.

Hop. _Humulus lupulus._ Stalks give a brownish red colour.

PLANTS WHICH DYE PURPLE.--

Whortleberry or blaeberry. _Vaccinium myrtillus._ Berries. "It contains a blue or purple dye which will dye wool and silk without mordant."

Deadly nightshade. _Atropa Belladonna._

Sundew. _Drosera._

Bryony. _Bryonia dioica._ Berries.

Danewort. _Sambucus Ebulus._ Berries.

Elder. _Sambucus nigra._ Berries, with alum, a violet; with alum and salt, a lilac colour.

Dandelion. _Taraxacum Dens-leonis._ Roots. Dyes a magenta colour.

Damson. Fruit, with alum.

PLANTS WHICH DYE BLACK.--

Alder. _Alnus glutinosa._ Bark with copperas.

Blackberry. _Rubus fruticosus._ Young shoots, with salts of iron.

Dock. _Rumex._ Root.

Iris. _Iris Pseudacorus._ Root.

Meadowsweet. _Spirea Ulmaria._

Oak. Bark and acorns.

Elder. Bark, with copperas.

FOOTNOTES:

[2] "On boiling sloes, their juice becomes red, and the red dye which it imparts to linen changes, when washed with soap, into a bluish colour, which is permanent."

[3] "For giving very inferior yellow upon coarser woollens, the dyer's broom, _genista tinctoria_, is sometimes employed, with the common preparation of alum and tartar."

[4] Sawwort which grows abundantly in meadows affords a very fine pure yellow with alum mordant, which greatly resembles weld yellow. It is extremely permanent.

[5] "The leaves of the sweet willow, _salix pentandra_, gathered at the end of August and dried in the shade, afford, if boiled with about one thirtieth potash, a fine yellow colour to wool, silk and thread, with alum basis. All the 5 species of Erica or heath growing on this island are capable of affording yellows much like those from the dyer's broom; also the bark and shoots of the Lombardy poplar, _populus pyramidalis_. The three leaved hellebore, _helleborus trifolius_, for dyeing wool yellow is used in Canada. The seeds of the purple trefoil, lucerne, and fenugreek, the flowers of the French marigold, the chamomile, _antemis tinctoria_, the ash, _fraxinus excelsior_, fumitory, _fumaria officinalis_, dye wool yellow." "The American golden rod, _solidago canadensis_, affords a very beautiful yellow to wool, silk and cotton upon an aluminous basis."--Bancroft.