GUNTHORPE BED - PLANT LIST

Textiles and Dyeing Plants plants as described by Dr William Turner in A New Herball (3 vols, 1551-1568)

NameEnglish nameColour or use
Anthemis tinctoriaYellow chamomileYellow or olive dye
Hypericum maculatumImperforate St John's WortYellow dye
Borago officinalisBorageBlue or pink dye
Isatis tinctoriaWoad Blue dye
Calendula officinalisPot marigoldYellow dye
Linum usitatissimumFlaxLinen fibre
Carthamus tinctoriusSafflowerYellow or tan dye
Lythrum salicariaPurple loosestrifeDye used in tanning
Crocus sativusSaffron crocusYellow food dye
Rubia tinctorumMadderRich red dye
Dipsacus fullonumTeaselFor finishing cloth
Saponaria officinalisSoapwortRoots used as soap
Foeniculum vulgareFennelGolden dye
Agetes patulaFrench marigoldGrey dye
Galium verumLady's bedstrawRed dye
Tanacetum vulgareTansyMustard yellow dye

Calendula officinalis (Pot marigold)
"Somme use to make theyr here (hair) yelow with the floure of this herbe, not beyng content with the natural colour, which God hath geven them."

Isatis tinctoria (Woad)
"The diers occupy the garden wadde ... in dyeing of wull and clothe."
Turner gives two Latin names for Woad: Isatis and Glastum, and the name of Glastonbury may have evolved from Glastum, meaning 'the place where woad grew'. Some of our woad plants have been kindly supplied by Glastonbury Abbey, and others grown from seed sent by Mme Christine Verhille from near Amiens in France.

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