The Woad has Won
By Bryce Neilson, The Cisco Kid
I really, hate to write this column. I hate to lose. I finally have to admit that Isatis tinctoria has won.
Once called the “Asp of Jerusalem” has long past. Its primary use, in ancient times and up to
the 1900’s, was as a blue dye. The Egyptians
used it to dye fabric, the Romans painted their bodies with it and the Vikings
used it in tattoos. It probably originated
in Asia and Siberia but was cultivated expensively throughout western Europe
until indigo and synthetic dyes replaced it.
The Chinese still grow it for medicinal uses and the craft industry incorporates
it for blue dye.
I first saw it when I was riding with my dad through Sardine
Canyon over 50 years ago. He told me what it was and that it may have come from
the old Baron Woolen Mills. As an
agronomist, he knew they were an invasive weed, that could become a serious
problem if something wasn’t done to control them. Of course, nobody worried about them and they
started to move. Over the years I
watched them colonize Cache County and move up Logan Canyon. Prior to 1980, I had never seen any in Bear
Lake but I located a patch next to my place in Bridgerland. Apparently, when they built the roads, them
must have used a bulldozer that has soil on it that had woad seeds in it. They are biennials that grow one year and
seed the next. The problem is that the
seeds may take from one to ten years to germinate. It took me eight years to eradicate that
small patch.
Their spread was relentless and as they started growing in
subdivisions, around the shoreline of the lake and along roads, I pulled out
1000’s. I continued my one person battle
for years and there were some public attempts to slow them down like the “Bag
of Woad” program. I tried to tell people
that they may be a pretty flower but they would displace many native
plants. I wasted my breath. The recent drought has held the back but with
the wet spring, every plant I saw last year now has 50 around it.
I admit defeat and have given up pulling plants as the
hillsides become yellow. The mustard
plant has won. I haven’t seen them move
up Laketown Canyon yet to the south side of the county, but rest assured they
eventually will be there.
