Saturday, February 26, 2011

Saw-wort Liuskalääte


Liuskalääte (Serratula tinctoria) on vanha, mutta nykyään aika tuntematon värikasvi. Sen käytöstä on kirjallisia lähteitä keskiajalta asti, mm Italian Tosacanasta, jossa se oli yhtä arvostettu  värikasvi kuin reseda (Cardon). Sitä käytettiin värjäämään keltaista ja morsingon kanssa vihreää ja se oli riittoisampaa kuin reseda.
Se sisältää samoja väriaineita kuin resedakin, luteoliinia ja sen glykosideja, apigeniinia ja lisäksi muita heikompia flavonoleja, ja sitä pidetään yhtä kestävänä kuin resedaakin. Löysin myös abstractin melko uudesta tutkimuksesta liuskaläätteen sisältämistä flavonoideista.
Liuskalääte on monivuotinen kasvi, ja siksi myös kiinnostava, sen kasvatus on helpompaa, kun sitä ei tarvitse kylvää joka vuosi uudelleen. Löysin sen siemeniä viime syksynä Göteborgin kasvitieteellisen puutarhan ystävien siemenluettelosta ja nyt niitä on odottamassa kylvöä. Liuskaläätteen siemeniä saa myös ainakin Saksasta Ruhlemann'silta.
Liuskalääte itää helposti lämpimässä, joten kylvöllä ei ole vielä kiire.
Kasvista käytetään versoja vasta toisesta vuodesta eteenpäin, joten alkukasvatus on hidasta, mutta jatkossa sitten satoisampaa.

Sain aiemmin kuivattua liuskaläätettä ja kokeilin värjätä sillä samalla tavalla kuin resedallakin: liotus yön yli ja loraus tuhkalipeää liotusvedssä, haudutus seuraavana päivänä, siivilöinti ja värjäys aluna-viinikivipuretetulla langalla. Pidin värjäyslämpötilan alle 80°C ja melkein heti lanka värjääntyi kauniin keltaiseksi. Ja kuten resedalla, niin myös tälläkin näköjään väri alkaa samentua, jos  värjäysaika on pitkä. Eli kannattaa nostaa lämpö nopeasti 60-70°C ja pitää siinä enintään tunti, koko värjäysaika ei saisi olla pidempi. Langan väriä kannatta tarkkailla värjäyksen kuluessa, samoin kuin lämpötilaakin:)

Kunhan kylvän siemenet ja ne itävät, niin sitten lisää kuvia itse kasvista.

IN ENGLISH
Saw-wort (Serratula tinctoria) is an old but not well known dyeplant for yellow. There are written historical evidence of its use since Middle Ages. It was a valued dyeplant in Tuscany, Italy, and used like weld to get yellows and greens with woad to woollen fabrics (Cardon), and actually less of saw-wort than weld was required to get the same shade.
Saw-wort contains the same flavonids as weld, that is luteolin and its glycosides, and apigenin, but also other flavonols. It is considered to give as fast dye as weld. I also found an interesting abstract of a French study of it's flavonoids.
Saw-wort is a perennial plant, and it got my interest right away, because you don't have to sow it every year, only once is enough. I found it's seeds from the seed catalog of Göteborg's Botanical Garden's friends in Sweden, last fall, but you can buy the seeds from Germany from Ruhlemanns. Perhaps there are also other places which sell its seeds.
For dyeing you can use saw-wort from the second year on, so at first it is slow, but once it gets established the crop should be steady.

I have gotten some dried saw-wort, and dyed with it the same way as I do with weld: soaking dried plants first overnight and a glug of wood-ash lye in the soaking water, then simmered for one hour, strained the bath and added premordanted wool (alum+CoT) and dyed for one hour in the temperature below 80°C. The yarn turned nice strong yellow quite soon. Saw-wort resembles weld also when dyeing, it is  better to raise the temperature quickly to 60-70°C, and dye for one hour at the most, otherwise the color will start to dull. It is best to keep close eye on the temperature and time and color when dyeing with weld and saw-wort:)

After I have sown the seeds and gotten plants, there will be more pictures.

11 comments:

  1. Good to know :) We've got plenty of them growing around here in Estonia at summer.

    Yet another plant to my "must collect" list.

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  2. Kiitos:)
    Thanks:)
    I read that saw-wort is native plant in Europe, but I didn't know that it grows in Estonia, perhaps it can even grow here someplace??

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  3. I even checked, and yes, it does grow in Estonia. It's officially been spotted and written down by scientists. (Alas, I have not gone mad :p) I cannot recall where I have seen them grow, I've been to many places, but the official sighting took place in West-Estonia, low marshlands.

    It's Estonian name is "värvipaskhein". Even the names strongly says that it is a dye.

    Next time I come across it, I'll take photos :p I keep dragging my camera along with me anyways.

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  4. Hi Diana, I don't know Estonian, but Finnish is so close language that I understand the Estonian name:), and it is a name for dyeplant! Perhaps it was used a lot in Estonia earlier? The Finnish name has nothing to do with dyeing, it just implies that leaves are serrated. I have wondered how a plant giving such good color has such and ugly sounding name in Finnish.

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  5. Hi Leena :)

    Tried to find some more material about the värvipaskhein.
    It is said to be a rare plant and is under protection, III category.(which means that they are rather common, but their number could possibly fall and at least 10% of their population areas must be taken under protection).
    I also found the major research by Scheila Schulz, concerning two derivations of serratula tinctoria.

    Competition ability between two varietas of saw-wort (Serratula
    tinctoria L.) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) in experimental
    light–and density gradient


    Unfortunately I found only the brief summary and not the part about S.T, which was listed in the registry. :( But basically I know now that the information is out there :D

    I also found that it is stated to grow in Hiiumaa (one of the smaller islands), in the vicinity of Emajõgi (that's the river separating two halves of my home town Tartu ;)) etc.

    So, relatively common, I may suggest.

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  6. I tried the seeds a few years back and they didn't germinate well for me:(( like you I was keen on having a perennial dye plant, but unfortunately the 2 or 3 seedlings didn't survive their first year:(( I might have to try it again at some stage (maybe I'll wait and see what you have to report?:))

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  7. very pretty! I'll have to keep it in mind for my seed order next year. It looks like a promising plant to have in the garden. I agree that perennial plants are a bonus!

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  8. Beautiful color! I'm Michela from Italy and I invite you to see my blog dedicated to natural colors: www.rossodirobbia.blogspot.com (in italian, but rich of photos!). Thank you! Mik

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  9. i've started the process of growing weld this year; so the information on how to extract the dyestuff is very useful, thank you!

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