Plants for a purpose

Nettles (Urtica dioica)

While nettles have a painful sting, they can be surprisingly useful in fabric-making. The fibres from their leaves can be used to produce textiles, and their leaves can be distilled into a green dye. Fabric produced from nettles were famously used for German soldiers’ uniforms in the First World War.

Madder (Rubia tinctorum)

Madder plants grow for three to five years before their roots are harvested to use as a source of red dye. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all used madder for dying textiles – cloth dyed with madder was found in the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen, and among the ruins of Pompeii.

Madder is still widely used today – for textiles like red Persian carpets, and even for adding red pigment to oil paint. Spot their dark green, prickly stems and small, star-shaped yellow flowers.

Woad (Isatis tinctoria)

The blue-green leaves of woad plants were the only source of blue dye in Europe for thousands of years, before indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) was imported from South Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries. Woad was used to dye tapestries in medieval Europe – including the famous Unicorn Tapestries, made in France and the Netherlands in 1495-1505.

Look out for woad’s small yellow blossoms, which are a great source of nectar for bees.

New Zealand flax, or harakeke (Phormium tenax)

New Zealand flax, also known by the Māori name harakeke, is an evergreen plant native to New Zealand and Norfolk Island. Try to spot their long leaves and dramatic yellow or red flowers.

Harakeke fibres were the most produced fibres in New Zealand prior to European contact, used by Māori people for weaving anything from rope to fine cloaks (kakahu). After the arrival of Europeans wool and cotton became more widely used, but harakeke has remained a popular choice among Māori weavers for traditional textiles.

Click the link here to watch a short newsreel from 1947, which shows the techniques used by some Māori people to extract fibres for textiles from harakeke leaves.

[Archives New Zealand – Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Weekly Review 280. National Film Unit, 1947]

Castor oil plant (Ricinus communis)

Castor oil plants are branching shrubs with red stems. In summer, look out for their leaves and tiny yellow flowers, which develop into bright red, spiky seed capsules.

The leaves of castor oil plants are an important food source for the Eri silkworm (Samia ricini) which are used for silk production, particularly in Ethiopia. Eri silkworm caterpillars feed on the leaves of plants like castor before wrapping themselves in cocoons, which are made of silk fibres. Silkworm rearing and silk weaving is called sericulture, an important craft for Ethiopia’s economy.

Pineapple (Ananas comosus)

We might best know pineapples for their delicious, spiny fruits – but did you know that you can wear fabric made from pineapple plants?

Pineapple leaves can be manufactured into a durable fabric commonly known as vegan leather. It takes 480 dark green pineapple leaves to make one square metre of vegan leather – leaves which would otherwise go to waste. These leaves are processed to extract their fibres, which are white, smooth, and feel similar to silk. The fibres are dried in the sun, purified, and then made into fabric.