SC - Sunflower seeds-OOP

[LrdRas]

>>> The name is descriptive of plants whose leaves follow the sun.  So what
>>>  European plants follow the sun?
>>
>>I've heard it attributed to be everything from lichens to sunflowers (Which I
>>THOUGHT were New World). A friend is researching it and was going to grind
>>sunflower seeds to see if it worked. My bet is it won't.
>>
>>Corwyn
>
>He may not get dye, but he should get oil. :-)
>
>So perhaps the question should be, are there any native European members
>of genus Heliotropium?  If not, does Gerard's Herball or possibly
>Cesalpino's De Plantis (unfortunately, both of these are after the
>conquest of Peru) identify a European plant as turnsole, turnesole,
>tournesol, or tornasole.  I have neither of these texts, so I can't help
>you on this point.
>
>Bon Chance
>
>Bear
>
>

Here is what I came up with on Turnsole for my book "A Sip Through Time":
"*Turnsole.  The word turnsole, or tournesol, means, literally, to turn
toward the sun.  In Greek the word is Heliotrope.

*1-Heliotropium indicum L., Boraginaceae, (B&B, 3: 75).  Indian Heliotrope,
Turnsole.  H. indicum is a native of India, but has spread widely.  It is
mentioned by Culpeper, who says it is a foreign plant that is grown in
gardens and is grown extensively in Spain and France.  It is a small hairy
plant with a flower stalk that "Šturneth inwards like a bowed finger,
opening by degrees as the flowers blow openŠ"(Culpeper, p. 292-3)  He uses
it for medicine and does not mention its use as a dye, which is not
unusual.  H. indicum is poisonous;(AMA Handbook, p. 88-9) the toxin is
pyrrolizidine alkaloids.  (See Alkanet for a description of symptoms.)  It
is possible that H. indicum is the H. minus or "Small Tornsole" mentioned
by Gerard:  "the same boiled in wine and drunke is good against the
stinging of Scorpions or other venemous beasts..."(Gerard, p. 266)

*2-Tithymalus Helioscopia (L.) Hill., Euphorbiaceae, (B&B 2: 473).
Turnsole, Wartweed, Mad-woman's Milk, Devil's-milk, (Euphorbia Helioscopia
L.).  Ingestion of this plant may prove fatal.(Kingsbury, p. 188)

3-Litmus is "Lacmus, Turnsole, Lacca Musica, Lacca Coerulea.  Blue coloring
matter from various species of lichens, particularly Variolaria, Lecanora
and Rocella [tinctoria] (Parmeliaceae)Š Has been used, but rarely now, for
coloring beverages, etc."(Merck, p. 322)  Rocella species contain
erithritol, a substance used in medicines.(ibid, p.217)  Adrosko mentions
turnsole as a type of litmus used sometimes for dyeing Dutch
cheese.(Adrosko, p. 44-5)  She says Rocella is the source of orchil, a
popular commercial dye for cloth in the 18th and 19th centuries.  Weigle,
et al., discuss how to dye with lichens in some detail; Rocella is not
mentioned specifically, but they do state that most lichens will produce
dyes of various colors when treated with the proper chemicals.  Orchils,
they say, are any lichens that contain colorless acids which produce dyes
when soaked in ammonia.  Umbilicaria proboscidea and U. mammulata produce
purple dye.

4-(?)Crozophora tinctoria, Euphorbiaceae.  According to the OED, turnsole
is a violet-blue or purple dye obtained from the plant Crozophora
tinctoria, a member of the Euphorbiaceae said to be cultivated in southern
France; the dye is extracted by the addition of ammonia.  (I have been
unable to locate C. tinctoria in botanical or horticultural texts.)

Either Heliotropium or Rocella are good candidates for being medieval
turnsole, but neither should be consumed.  As with Alkanet, safe commercial
food dyes are available, so why take the risk?  (Turnsole is oftentimes
confused with alkanet, but they are not the same thing.  See Alkanet.)"

(Excerpted from "A Sip Through Time", copyright 1994, Cindy Renfrow)

Sources:

Adrosko, Rita J.  Natural Dyes and Home Dyeing.  Dover Publications, Inc.
New York, 1971.

American Medical Association.  AMA Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious
Plants.  Chicago, Illinois, 1985.  Incomplete, but contains much useful
information.

Britton, Nathaniel, Lord, and Hon. Addison Brown.  An Illustrated Flora of
the Northern United States and Canada.  3 volumes.  Second edition.  1913.
Rpt. Dover Publications, Inc.  New York, 1970.  An indispensable tool in
plant identification.  Referred to here as B&B.

Culpeper, Nicholas.  Culpeper's Complete Herbal.  1653.  Rpt. Chartwell
Books, Inc.  Secaucus, New Jersey, 1985.

Gerard, John.  The Herball or Generall Historie of Plants.  London, 1597.
Rpt. Walter J. Johnson, Inc.  Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd.  Keizersgracht
526, Amsterdam, 1974.

Kingsbury, John M.  Poisonous Plants of the United States and Canada.
Prentice-Hall, Inc.  New Jersey, 1964.

Merck & Co., Inc.  The Merck Index.  Fifth Edition.  Rahway, New Jersey, 1940.

Weigle, Palmy, et. al., eds.  "Natural Plant Dyeing," Plants & Gardens.
Vol. 29, No. 2, March, 1976.  Brooklyn Botanic Garden,  Brooklyn, NY  11225.


HTH,

Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/


============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================