Note 5 — Chapter IV · BRITISH DYE PLANTS

"The leaves of the sweet willow, salix pentandra, gathered at the end of August and dried in the shade, afford, if boiled with about one thirtieth potash, a fine yellow colour to wool, silk and thread, with alum basis. All the 5 species of Erica or heath growing on this island are capable of affording yellows much like those from the dyer's broom; also the bark and shoots of the Lombardy poplar, populus pyramidalis. The three leaved hellebore, helleborus trifolius, for dyeing wool yellow is used in Canada. The seeds of the purple trefoil, lucerne, and fenugreek, the flowers of the French marigold, the chamomile, antemis tinctoria, the ash, fraxinus excelsior, fumitory, fumaria officinalis, dye wool yellow." "The American golden rod, solidago canadensis, affords a very beautiful yellow to wool, silk and cotton upon an aluminous basis."—Bancroft.