x a n t h i u m * s t r u m a r i u m

before dyeing with the plant that I'm going to show you, I had never heard about it, nor I had never noticed it anywhere. Hubby and I spotted this when we had a long walk in town, a couple of weeks ago. During that walk, we had spotted & picked other plants to dye with.

this plant is called Xanthium strumarium. It is a native to both Eurasia and North America. It is a common summer annual, about 2 to 4 feet tall. It is a monoecious plant. Xanthium strumarium belongs to the Asteraceae family.

in Greek, ξανθοσ (xanthos) means yellow, yellowish, greenish, and some say the name Xanthium was given from the ancient name of some plant, the fruit of which was used to dye the hair yellow (blond).

in Latin, struma means scrofula so that strumarium would mean of or pertaining to the scrofula, that leaves retractile and unsightly scars, and the epithet might then refer to the shape of the fruits.

the dyebath

as usual we had mordanted our fibers with alum. I do think the results are very satisfactory ... the dye was well absorbed even on cotton & linen. Very interesting indeed, as this plant grows on wastelands & such. If you wonder which part of the plant we used, we only picked & used the fruits, these spiky little things I've taken a photo of, with the dyed fabrics.