Flowering Plant Used for Indigo Dye

Background

• The various Indigo plants are known by the more common names of true indigo, Indian indigo, woad and dyers knotweed. Woad was used as a body paint by ancient Britons, according to the website Indigo Page, and the fresh leaves of dyers knotweed were combined with water during the fifth and sixth centuries in China to produce a simple dye.

Plant Characteristics

• Indigo plants grow 6 feet tall and produce flowers that are pale to deep pink or yellow. They do best in sandy, well-drained soil in full sun. They flower from July to September and must be pollinated by insects, states Indigo Page.

Considerations

• Indigo Page explains that preparing indigo involves steeping the whole plants for 12 hours in water. The resulting greenish extract is then stirred to expose it to oxygen. The resulting blue mud is then dried and cut into cubes.