Woad--Sarah's Natural Colour

Woad References:

Woad is an exciting plant to study. Although it was grown commercially and domestically for hundreds of years, by the time systematic scientific inquiry was well established, woad had ceased to be an important agricultural crop.

Two periods of history brought forth a renewed interest in woad. During the Napoleonic blocade in Europe, there were contests to investigate the extraction of indigo pigment from woad. Several French scientific papers came out of this time period. Today there is a minor revival of woad cultivation and indigo extraction from the plant with numerous scientific studies, in several languages, examining many aspects of both cultivation and extraction.

What has come out of these post modern scientific studies is that woad can be grown sustainably, its indigo can be extracted as a purified pigment, and a hectacre of woad can produce as much pure indigotin over the course of a growing season in its climate zone, as a hectacre of tropical indigo can produce in the tropics.

A productive and economically viable agricultural plan, with high producing varieties of woad, has yet to be defined. Furthur, ideal extraction methods on an agricultural scale, which would maximize the indigo yield are still lacking.

For those with a scientific inclination there are several references useful for further study:
This is not an exhaustive list -- see Cooksey (2007) for a more thorough bibliography.

Also, an Australian data base has listed an interesting survey of papers mentioning woad, worth a look. Its amazing how much interest within the scientific community has increased for Isatis tinctoria since 2000.

References from 1800 to 1995:

Bemiss, Elijah. (1806) The Dyers Companion. (New York: Dover Publications, 1973) pp, 128- 173,

Chaptal, John Antony. (1839) Chemystry Applied to Agriculture. (translated from French), Boston:
Hilliard, Gray, and Co., pp.291-314. (electronic version, Google Books)

Giobert, Giovanni Antonio. (1813) Traité sur le pastel et l'extraction de son indigo. Paris (electronic version, Google Books)

Hurry, Jameson B. (1930) The Woad Plant and its Dye. (London: Oxford University Press,)reprint
(1973) Clifton NJ: Augustus M. Kelley Publishers.

References from 1996 to present:

Angelini, Luciana. (2008) “Introduction to Natural dyes”, (University of Pisa) Retrieved on Jan 25, 2008 from http://www.chimicaverde.net/chimicaverde/. (translated by Babelfish)

Balfour-Paul, Jenny. (2006) Indigo. London: Archetype Publications (2nd edition).

Balfour-Paul, Jenny. (2004) “Indigo, A Magic Dye,” Geographical. London, Jan. 2004 (electronic version).

Campeol, Elisabetta, Angelini, Luciana G; Tozzi, Sabrina; Bertolacci, Marcello. (2006) “Seasonal variation of indigo precursors in Isatis tinctoria L. and Polygonum tinctorum, As affected by water deficit”, Environmental and Experimental Biology. vol 58, issues 1-3. December 2006, pp223-233.

Cardon, Dominique. (2006) “Natural Dyes Today: Why?”, paper presented at “Naturally, International Symposium on Natural Dyes” Hyderabad, India, Nov. 5-12, 2006. (electronic version, Unesco)

Cardon, Dominique. (2007) Natural Dyes, Sources, Tradition, Technology and Science. London: Archetype Publications. p. 335-408. (my most perused book -- very thorough and interesting.)

Cooksey, C.J. (2007) “Indigo: An annotated bibliography,” Biotechnic and Histochemistry. 82 (2): 105-125. (Excellent survey of literature)

Daniel, Frank Jack. (2007) “Jeans firms pollute Mexican city with blue dye”, Yahoo! News, May 2, 2007. Reuters, Ltd. (electronic version)

Edmonds, John. (1998) The History of Woad and the Medieval Woad Vat. Buckinghamshire: John Edmonds Publisher.

Garcia-Macias P. & John, Phillip. (2004) “Formation of Natural Indigo Derived from Woad (Isatis tinctoria) in Relation to Product Purity”, Agricultural Food Chemistry. Dec. 29, 52(26) 7891-6.

Hill, David. (2006) University of Bristol. “Obtaining Indigo From Woad”, A-level Applied Science/Colour Chemistry… Retrieved April 11/07 from www.Wikibooks.org.

John, Philip. (2005) “SPINDIGO”, paper presented at a workshop held on 28 June 2005 in Brussels (electronic version)

John, Phillip. (2005) “Production of Natural Indigo with a High Purity”, School of Plant Sciences. Reading: University of Reading UK. (electronic version)

John, Phillip. (2005) “Producing Indigo From European Farms, the SPINDIGO Project 2001-2004 ”, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading UK. www.bbsrc.ac.uk/bisiness/knowleg/link/0605_paper_indigo.pdf. Retrieved Nov/07

Kokubun, T., Edmonds, J., John, P. (1998) “Indoxyl derivatives in woad in relation to medieval indigo production”, Phytochemistry: Oxford, vol. 49 (1) pp. 79-87.

Kwon, Charlotte. (2007) “In Search of Lost Colour”. Documentary Vancouver: Maiwa Productions,Ltd. (Has a great segment on woad and a tour of the Bleu d'lectoure business in Toulouse, France)

Oberthűr, Christine; Graf, Heidemarie; Hamburger, Matthias. (2004) “The content of indigo precursors in Isatis tinctoria leaves—a comparative study of select accessions and past harvest treatments”, Journal of Phytochemistry. Vol. 65, Issue 24, pp. 3261-3268.

Oberthűr, Christine; Schneider, Bernd; Graf, Heidemarie; Hamburger, Matthias. (2004) “The elusive indigo precursors in Woad (Isatis tinctoria L.)—identification of the major indigo precursors, Isatan A, and a structure revision of Isatan B”, Chemistry and Biodiversity. vol 1, issue 1, pp. 174-182.

Padden, Nikki A. et al. (1999)“An Indigo-reducing Moderate Thermophile from a Woad Vat, Clostiridium isatidis sp. Nov,” International Journal of Systemic Bacteriology. 49, pp. 1025- 1031.

Padden, Nikki A. et als, (1998) “Clostridium used in Mediaeval Dyeing”, Nature. Volume 396, Issue 6708, pp. 225.

Sales, Ester, et als. (2006) “Sowing date, transplanting, plant density, and nitrogen fertilization affect indigo production from Isatis species in Mediterrean region of Spain, " Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 23, Issue 1, pp. 29-39.

Sandoval-Solas, Fabiola, et al. (2006) “Effecto Del Tiemienpo de cosecha sobre la produccion de colorants en Indigofera suffruticosa MILL”, Agrocienca. 40:585-591. (about the revival of indigo farming in S. America)

Spataro, Giorgia;, Taviani, Paola; Negri, Valeria (2007) “Genetic Variation and Population Structure in a Eurasian Collection of Isatis tinctoria L,” Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. Vol. 54, Number 3, May 2007.

Spataro, Giorgia, Negri, Valeria. (2008)“Adaptability and variation in Isatis tinctoria L.: a new crop for Europe” Euphytica, 163:89–102.

Spataro, Giogia; Negri, Valeria. (2008)“Assessment of the reproductive system of Isatis tinctoria L.” Euphytica 159:229-231.

Stoker, Kelly G; Cooke, David T; Hill, David J. (1998) “Influence of light on natural indigo production from woad (Isatis tinctoria),” Plant Growth Regulation. vol. 25, Number 3/September 1998, pp. 181-185.

Stoker, K. G., Cooke, D.T. Hill, D.J. (1998) “An Improved Method for Large Scale Processing of Woad (Isatis tinctoria) For Possible Commercial Production of Woad Indigo,” Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research. Vol 71, Number 4. December 1998, pp. 315-320

Maugard, Thierry; Enaud, Estelle; Choisy, Patrick; Legoy, Marie Dominique. (2001) “Identification of an indigo precursor from leaves of Isatis tinctoria (Woad)”, Phytochemistry. Vol 58, Issue 6, pp. 897-904.

Thirsk, Joan. (1997) Alternative Agriculture: A History from the Black Death to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press.

Van Stralen, Trudy. (1993) Indigo, Madder, and Marigold, Interweave Press, 201 East Fourth street, Loveland Colorado. (Excellent general natural dye resource that gives scientific exactness to the art of natural dyeing.)

Vilarim, G.; Bareau, I,; Masatamos-Ortiz, E. (2000) “Extraction and Analysis of Plant Dyes for Industrial Use”, paper presented at 1st World Conference on Biomass for Energy and Industry. held in Sevilla in June 2000, pp. 1149-1151. (electronic version, Google Books)

Vetter, Habil Armen. (2004) “Final Technical Report. Sustainable Production of Plant-Derived Indigo”, (Germany) as retrieved on June, 2007 from? (publication no longer on line 3/08)

Wipplinger, Michele. (2006) “The Revival of Natural Dyes in America”, paper presented at “Naturally, International Symposium on Natural Dyes” Hyderabad, India, Nov. 5-12, 2006. (electronic version, Unesco)

****If your work is mentioned here and you would like me to add a link to your current webpage or research pages, please contact me and I would be happy to. Sarah.

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