Thank you, BraveHeart, for showing us woad’s unsubstantiated use in native Scotland. Hopefully, that paint you applied was not mixed with semen as a wild, I read it on the internet so it must be true, story goes…

But did you know-

Woad is a plant that flowers yellow and has beautiful full green leaves. When made into a tea you can extract its pigment which is blue. Of course, you knew that, but what about the fact that the plant was commonly used as an antiseptic and now is being used to help fight breast cancer?

Or that when used as a dye the plant is famous for fabrics, preventing colored cloth, not only its famed blue, from fading in direct light or by heavy washing. The seeds, de-winged, produce an oil that can be used for making soap. Hey, I thought everyone was dirty back in the early centuries. Not so.

Also, woad is perfect for using in magic rituals when you find yourself shape-shifting and or determining past lives. Chinese medicine hails its valor for curing throat ailments and the common cold. Although beyond goats, the plant is not edible for livestock.

In the 1500’s Queen Elizabeth issued a proclamation, “Against the sowing of Woade.” Too much land was being used to cultivate the crops and not being used for harvesting grains. The plant does grow wild but during the time of food shortages and famine, no one person could sow more than 20 pounds yearly. A single parish could have no more than 40-60 acres.

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