The Dye Plants
The majority of 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.
The yellow dyes are 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.
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 Barbary and some of the lichens, are substantive dyes, and require no mordant.
PLANTS WHICH DYE RED
Birch. Betula alba. Fresh inner bark.
Bed-straw. Gallium boreale. Roots.
Common Sorrel. Rumex acetosa. Roots.
Dyer's Woodruff. Asperula tinctoria. Roots.
Evergreen Alkanet. Anchusa sempervirens.
Gromwell. Lithospermum arvense.
Lady's Bedstraw. Gallium verum. Roots.
Marsh Potentil. Potentilla Comarum. Roots.
Potentil. Potentilla Tormentilla. Roots.
Wild Madder. Rubia peregrina.
PLANTS WHICH DYE BLUE
Devil's Bit. Scabiosa succisa. Leaves prepared like woad.
Dog's Mercury. Mercurialis perennis.
Elder. Sambucus nigra. Berries.
Privet. Ligustrum vulgare. Berries with alum and salt.
Red bearberry. Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursi.
Sloe. Prunus communis. Fruit.
Whortleberry or Blaeberry. Vaccinium Myrtillus. Berries.
Woad. Isatis tinctoria.
Yellow Iris. Iris Pseudacorus. Roots.
PLANTS WHICH DYE YELLOW
Agrimony. Agrimonia Eupatoria.
Ash. Fraxinus excelsior. Fresh inner bark.
Barberry. Berberis vulgaris. Stem and root.
Birch. Leaves.
Bog Asphodel. Narthecium ossifragum.
Bog Myrtle or Sweet Gale. Myrica Gale.
Bracken. Pteris aquilina. Roots. Also young tops.
Bramble. Rubus fructicosus.
Broom. Sarothammus Scoparius.
Buckthorn. Rhamnus frangula and R. cathartica. Berries and Bark.
Common dock. Rumex obtusifolius. Root.
Crab Apple. Pyrus Malus. Fresh inner bark.
Dyer's Greenwood. Genista tinctoria. Young shoots and leaves.
Gorse. Ulex Europæus. Bark, flowers and young shoots.
Heath. Erica vulgaris. With Alum.
Hedge stachys. Stachys palustris.
Hop. Humulus lupulus.
Hornbeam. Carpinus Betulus. Bark.
Kidney Vetch. Anthyllis Vulnararia.
Ling. Caluna vulgaris.
Marsh Marigold. Caltha palustris.
Marsh potentil. Potentilla Comarum.
Meadow Rue. Thalictrum flavum.
Nettle. Urtica. With Alum.
Pear. Leaves.
Plum. "
Polygonum Hydropiper.
Polygonum Persecaria.
Poplar. Leaves.
Privet. Ligustrum vulgare. Leaves.
S. John's Wort. Hypericum perforatum.
Sawwort. Serratula tinctoria.
Spindle tree. Euonymus Europæus.
Stinking Willy, or Ragweed. Senecio Jacobæa.
Sundew. Drosera.
Teasel. Dipsacus Sylvestris.
Way-faring tree. Viburnum lantana. Leaves.
Weld. Reseda luteola.
Willow. Leaves.
Yellow Camomile. Anthemis tinctoria.
Yellow Centaury. Chlora perfoliata.
Yellow Corydal. Corydalis lutea.
PLANTS WHICH DYE GREEN
Elder. Sambucus nigra. Leaves with alum.
Flowering reed. Phragmites communis. Flowering tops, with copperas.
Larch. Bark, with alum.
Lily of the valley. Convalaria majalis. Leaves.
Nettle. Urtica dioica and U. Urens.
Privet. Ligustrum vulgare. Berries and leaves, with alum.
PLANTS WHICH DYE BROWN
Alder. Alnus glutinosa. Bark.
Birch. Betula alba. Bark.
Hop. Humulus lupulus. Stalks give a brownish red colour.
Onion. Skins.
Larch. Pine needles, collected in Autumn.
Oak. Quercus Robur. Bark.
Red currants, with alum.
Walnut. Root and green husks of nut.
Water Lily. Nymphæa alba. Root.
Whortleberry. Vaccinium Myrtillus. Young shoots, with nut galls.
Dulse. (Seaweed.)
Lichens.
PLANTS WHICH DYE PURPLE
Byrony. Byronia dioica. Berries.
Damson. Fruit, with alum.
Dandelion. Taraxacum Dens-leonis. Roots.
Danewort. Sambucus Ebulus. Berries.
Deadly nightshade. Atropa Belladonna.
Elder. Sambucus nigra. Berries, with alum, a violet; with alum and salt, a lilac colour.
Sundew. Drosera.
Whortleberry or blaeberry. Vaccinium myrtillus. It contains a blue or purple dye which will dye wool and silk without mordant.
PLANTS WHICH DYE BLACK
Alder. Alnus glutinosa. Bark, with copperas.
Blackberry. Rubus fruticosus. Young shoots, with salts of iron.
Dock. Rumex. Root.
Elder. Bark, with copperas.
Iris. Iris Pseudacorus. Root.
Meadowsweet. Spirea Ulmaria.
Oak. Bark and acorns.
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