Weld (Reseda luteola) is found throughout
Great Britain, although it is commoner in the south than the north. It grows on
open ground, particularly in chalky soils. In former times it was an extremely
important plant for the textile industry, even to the extent that Britain could
not grow enough of it, but those times have long gone.
Weld is an impressive plant, growing up to
five feet (150 centimetres) high. It has upright hairless stems with few, if
any, branches. The narrow lower leaves are grouped round the stem in a rosette,
whereas the upper leaves, oblong in shape with wavy edges, grow directly off
the stem.
The small yellow-green flowers grow on a
tall spike, each flower having four divided petals. Weld is a heliocentric
plant, which means that the flowers turn to face the sun as it moves across the
sky. The fruit is globular or ovoid and divided into three or more lobes.
The economic significance of weld is that
it was one of three plants used in medieval times for producing dyes for cloth.
Woad produced blue, madder was the source of red dye and weld gave yellow.
Indeed, this property of weld was known as far back as Stone Age times. In
order to colour one pound (weight) of cloth, up to six pounds of weld would be
needed, which is why it was in such heavy demand and English cloth-makers had
to import it from France to make up for the shortfall in home-grown weld.
© John Welford
No comments:
Post a Comment