Each spring in the Tropical House, the jade vine puts on a spectacular show of pendent, turquoise flowers – an obvious invitation to a curious dyer. The flowers can be heated in water with potash before adding chalk to make a green paint. A pink paint can be made by adding a tin mordant to create a dye and then adding china clay. There is no recorded use of Strongylodon as a dye plant in the tropical rainforests of the Philippines, where it is endemic.
Next: Prunus lusitanica (Portugal Laurel)
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