Mrs Grieve doesn't say and nor does Henslow, Bea - but I would have guessed
a yellow of some kind (as with the majority of plants; the red colour of
the berries probably does NOT survive in the dyebath). To my surprise, a
little book by Mairet (1916, Vegetable dyes) lists it under plants which
dye purple -but the name is misspelt which makes one wonder if the author
had any direct experience of it. And there's no connection with woad, by
the way - that's quite another story!

Incidentally, a colleague at Glasgow who studies Anglo-Saxon words for
plants recently asked me about the use of hellebore (Helleborus) as a dye.
Something that emerged from our correspondence was that there doesn't SEEM
to be a compilation of historical references to the past use of plants as
dyes (and my colleague sweetly suggested I ought to make one!)... but maybe
other archaeobotanists know of such a resource? (I am aware of Dominique
Cardon's excellent 'Guide des Teinteures naturelles' and her more recent
'Le monde des teintures naturelles' but they are concerned mainly with
those plants - and animals - which became commercially important; I suppose
I am thinking more of the 'folk' use of plants, and initially, I guess I am
limiting my frame of reference to the British Isles (have remembered I do
know about this one: Mahon, B. 1983. Traditional dyestuffs in Ireland!).

Regards to all

Allan


On Oct 2 2004, Bea Hopkinson wrote:

> 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
>

-- Dr Allan Hall, Department of Archaeology, University of York, The King's
Manor, York YO1 7EP, U.K. Tel. +44 1904 434950/fax: 433902