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Isatis tinctoria
Also called Woad, Dyer’s Woad, Asp Of Jerusalem
Dyer's woad is a biennial member of the cabbage family grown historically for a blue dye made from its leaves. It forms a rosette in its first year and flowers with yellow blooms in its second, and it grows best in open, sunny, well-drained sites.
Isatis tinctoria, also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. The double use of woad is seen in its name: the term Isatis is linked to its ancient use to treat wounds; the term tinctoria references its use as a dye. It is occasionally known as Asp of Jerusalem. Woad is also the name of a blue dye produced from the leaves of the plant. Woad is native to the steppe and desert zones of the Caucasus, Central Asia to Eastern Siberia and Western Asia but is now also found in South-Eastern and Central Europe and western North America.
Woad was an important source of blue dye and was cultivated throughout Europe, especially in Western and Southern Europe.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Isatis tinctoria by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
