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Woad

A flowering woad plant. A flowering woad plant.

Woad (Isatis tinctoria) is a flowering plant of the Brassicaceae family. It is commonly known as dyer’s woad or simply, woad. It is also the name of a blue dye produced by the leaves of the plant. The woad plant is native from the steppes and desert zones of Central Asia as far as the Caucasus, but is now also found throughout Europe.

The plant was especially important as an historical source of blue dye in Western and Southern Europe. Woad was replaced first by indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) and later by synthetic indigoes.

Digital source of illustration (retrieved 7th July 2016).

GVE

Last modified on Thursday, 11 May 2017 18:04