Woad (Isatis, Da Quing Ye)
Isatis tinctoria
Family: Cruciferae
Biennial. Native to southeastern Europe and west Asia. This is
Dyer’s Woad, which makes a natural blue dye and is also used as a mordant
for improving and fixing the more brilliant blue derived from Indigo (see
Indigo). In early times and on special occasions, British women and
girls would go naked, coloring their skin with the dye and dancing in the
moonlight. Also used as an antiseptic gargle and as an anti-inflammatory
to irritated liver and spleen. Cultivation: Easy. Sow
seed directly in garden in the spring. Full sun. Thin seedlings
to 12 inches apart. They make pretty yellow flowers early in the
second year of growth. Grows 4 feet tall. Not for sale to
CA, OR, WA states.
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