Eggarton Cottages, Eggarton Lane, Godmersham, Kent, CT4 7DY
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Biennial herb, and a type of wild Mignonette. Rosette of leaves and flower spike up to 5ft with small greeny-yellow flowers. Also known as Dyer's Rocket. Found in the wild in chalky areas. Flowers June to August, the flowers following the course of the sun, even if cloudy. Native to Morocco and Britain.
The whole plant yields a very intense yellow dye, the leaves, though, producing the best. It was used to dye wool, and is the oldest yellow dye plant in the world. It was harvested in the middle of its flowering season, dried and tied into bundles which were sold to textile dyers who extracted the yellow dye. Mixed with Woad it produces a green dye. Used in the production of Harris tweed in Scotland. It is also an ingredient in the manufacture of a water colour called Dutch Pink. Food plant of the Small White butterfly and the Bath White.
Romans used the dye to colour the tunics of Vestal Virgins. In north east Essex it was grown as a crop with corn.
Plant in sun.