Herbs to Dye For

So I like playing around with herbal dyes, and put together a list of some of the cool stuff that’s out there. People have been using plants to dye fabric, fibers, and even their skin for ages, so it’s a neat thing to start exploring. I thought I’d share some of the nifty ones I’ve found so far.

*Even though the flowers are yellow, woad is used to create a blue dye. Image by Patti Wigington*

Plant	Scientific Name	Part Used	Color	Common Uses

St. John’s Wort	Hypericum perforatum	Flowers	Red/yellow	The Greeks used St. Johns Wort to dye fabric. Although it’s native to Europe, today it’s all over the United States, and is often considered a weed. Named for St. John the Baptist, because it flowers around the time of the summer solstice – also known as St. John’s Day.
Alder	Alnus rubra	Bark	Orange	Used in Native American handcrafts as a dye for baskets and fibers. Found in most parts of the U.S., as well as Britain and Ireland.
Goldenrod	Solidago canadensis	Flowers	Yellowish tan/gold	Can be used to dye a variety of fabrics – Native Americans used it for cotton and wool. Today, many weavers use it to dye hand-spun yarn.
Woad	Isatis tinctoria	Leaves	Blue	Young, first year leaves are best for a bright, vibrant blue. Woad was used by the ancient Egyptians to dye the cloth used in wrapping mummies, and was later used by the Scots and Vikings, both in cloth and as tattoo ink.
Foxglove	Digitalis purpurea	Flowers	Green	In Oriental carpets, this is used, albeit sparingly, to represent the holy prophet Mohammed. In medieval gardens, the bell-shaped flowers were said to symbolize the Virgin Mary.
Sweetgum	Liquidambar styraciflua	Bark	Purple	Used by Cherokee tribes for dying fabrics. Interestingly, it is also used by some makers of Oriental carpets to represent the afterlife.