Woad

Woad, common name for a biennial or perennial herb of the cabbage family and for the blue dye obtained from it. Woad has a stout tap-root, which produces leafy flowering stems up to 120 cm (4 ft) high. The lower leaves are lance-shaped, toothed, and branched, while the upper leaves are arrow-shaped at the base and clasp the stem. The numerous yellow flowers are about 4 mm across, with four petals arranged in the shape of a cross. The shiny, purple-brown fruits are oblong, flattened with a broad wing, and dangle from slender stalks. Woad is probably native to central Europe and western Asia but has been cultivated from ancient times in many countries, including Britain, as a source of dye. This was produced by exposing the partially dried and crushed leaves to the air before wetting and fermenting them. Although associated with the Ancient Britons, who used it to paint their skin to frighten their enemies, woad was still being produced in England up to the 1930s, but was displaced, first by indigo (see Indigo Plant) in the 1630s, and then by synthetic dyes in the 1890s.

Scientific classification: Woad is classified as Isatis tinctoria, in the family Brassicaceae (or Cruciferae).