[Herbalist] WODE: follow-up

[Wes Will]

>As for the dye preparation and loads of odd stuff (some of which at first
blush
>seem that they might not be too relible, so look into other sources - they
might >or might be bogus):

http://my.net-link.net/~rowan/crafts/woad/woadpage.html

After just a bit more careful examination, the site listed above seems to
be mostly decent data. The questionable things were NOT on this site, but
there were some strange things on links to other places.  This site seems
to have fairly good scholarship, and includes a bibliography at the bottom
for more information.

The bit about the hallucinogenic effects of woad was pretty thoroughly
debunked here a few years ago, and is probably in the archives.  (I was
thoroughly embarassed at being caught accepting pseudo-science for fact,
and have since tried diligently to avoid a repeat of the same sort.)

Woad is simply a weaker form of the same dye produced by indigo, indigotin.
 Indigotin is not listed in any of the MSDS pages as being even remotely
hallucinogenic.  ( http://hazard.com/msds/g/c/k/d/z/ckdzb.html )  Even so,
it is certainly not particularly good for you, so avoid getting much of the
stuff in your system.
--
Eoin Caimbeul