On 9/20/04 9:24 AM Allan Hall writes:
>Monique's reference is, of course, to the on-line version of Mrs Grieve's
>Herbal, the source of the quote in my last posting. As so often, she gives
>no context, historical or geographical for the comment about the use of the
>berries as a dye! Henslow (1905, Uses of British Plants) also comments
>about their use in this way - naturally, he might be the source of Mrs G's
>reference.
>
>Allan
>
As a matter of interest, what sort of color did this fruit produce? I am
thinking of the references to woad (blue) which I believe is a plant that
Dr. Peter Reynolds produced at his Iron Age farm at Butzer.
Bea Hopkinson
UCLA
>On Sep 20 2004, Monique Reed wrote:
>
>> There is some information on white bryony use at:
>> http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/brywhi77.html
>>
>> If, as this suggests, the fruits were used as a dyestuff, you might
>> indeed find quite a few, as the usual ratio of dyestuff to wool is about
>> 1:1 by weight. I think it's interesting that Caesar supposedly wore it to
>> ward off lightning...
>>
>> Monique Reed
>> Texas A&M
>>
>>
>
>-- Dr Allan Hall, Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King's
>Manor, York YO1 7EP, U.K. Tel. +44 1904 434950/fax: 433902
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