“radix flava Americana”

A funny thing happens when you start writing dissertation chapters: time seems to move very quickly and very slowly all at the same time! Coming into the home stretch, postings should become more regular again this spring. In the meantime, though, a quick mention of another Native American dye, this time for yellow:

On October 4, 1782, a paper on “some of the principal dies [sic] employed by the North-American Indians,” by Hugh Martin, was read at a meeting of The American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. In Mr. Martin’s opinion, “the root of a plant which grows spontaneously in the western woods, and which might, very properly, be called radix flava Americana” was used by the local communities to dye a bright yellow. My loose translation for radix flava Americana is “American yellow root,” and Martin’s description of the plant suggests that the root in question is from goldenseal, Hydrastis canadensis.

Martin’s paper goes on to describe his experiments dyeing silk, linen, and wool with goldenseal, sometimes using a mild acid (conditions similar, for instance, to the acid levels in a cup of black tea), a stronger acid (sulfuric, in this case), and a mild base (perhaps wood ashes) to adjust the pH of the dye bath. In all cases, Martin successfully obtains a nice yellow color–results consistent with expectations for dyeing with berberine. Berberine is the primary colorant in goldenseal, and gives a bright, stable yellow with or without a dye mordant and across a wide range of pH.

Some of you may interested to know that goldenseal was also used by several Native American groups for its medicinal properties. A listing of the medical uses of goldenseal can be found here,

http://herb.umd.umich.edu/

a searchable ethnobotany database researched by Dan Moerman and hosted by the University of Michigan, Dearborn.

There is much more to say on the subject of quillwork dyes, and much more to come–I promise! Postings to summarize possible yellow dyes, talk about sources for blues and purples, and my approach to sorting probable from less possible are all forthcoming. Also in the works is the second half of Color Primer, Part 1, delving a bit more into the chemistry of why a given dye looks yellow instead of blue. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

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