Any plant that can produce indigo can be collectively called "blue". Blue grass is generally collected in two stages: before and after the summer heat and before and after the Millennium. Take 28kg clean leaves and12kg lime and mix them into a material. Four kinds of materials can be made into a load of indigo, which is also called "indigo" because it looks like mud.
Indigo, rich in color, gorgeous but not flattering, dignified and confident, has been loved by people for thousands of years. Indigo's simple and elegant style can be seen on fabrics and folk handicrafts unearthed in China.
With the improvement of environmental awareness, natural plant fiber fabrics and finished products dyed with blue grass are increasingly favored by modern people and become an important part of fashion.
Li Shizhen said in Compendium of Materia Medica: "Five kinds of blues have their own indications ... Indigo is one of them. He pointed out in turn that there are five kinds of blue: wild ginger, Polygonum, horse, wood and amaranth.
1. Indigofera aegypti, also known as Indigofera, belongs to Leguminosae and is produced in East Africa.
2. Indigofera, Leguminosae, produced in India, Arabia and West African countries.
3. Lonicera edulis, also known as Fan Jing and Nanman Fan Jing, belongs to Leguminosae and is produced in Central America.
4. Indigofera Arabia, a leguminous plant, is produced in India, Arabia and West Africa.
5. Indigofera, belonging to Leguminosae, is produced in East Africa and North Africa.
6. Indigofera belongs to Leguminosae and is produced in Central America.
7. Carolina indigo belongs to Leguminosae and is mainly produced in North America.
8. Isatis indigotica, Cruciferae, mainly produced in the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
9. Celastrus orbiculatus, Leguminosae, produced in West Africa.
10. Hibiscus blue belongs to Rosaceae and is produced in Malaysia and Indonesia.
1 1. Indigo belongs to Apocynaceae and is produced in India.
Guizhou has a long history of planting bluegrass and dyeing.
It is recorded in Guiyang Tongzhi that Guizhou is rich in bluegrass.
"Liping County Records" records the production method of indigo: "Indigo is called bluegrass, and there are two kinds in Lixian County, with big leaves like mustard and thin leaves like locusts. Cut leaves into indigo fields in September and October, soak for three days, and the blue color will be exhausted. When quicklime is put in, the color of the ground will be incorporated into the ash, especially purple. " Bluegrass is millet, with stem height less than 1 m, alternate leaves, flowering in July and harvesting in September. Indigo extracted from blue grass is made by fermentation of stems and leaves of indigotica plants such as Isatis indigotica, Isatis indigotica, Isatis indigotica and Isatis indigotica. After harvesting the indigo leaves, put them into a vat, wooden bucket or pit, add about 60 kilograms of cold water, turn over every two days, soak for 6-7 days, then take out the indigo leaves, put quicklime into a porcelain basin, and then inject the indigo water into the vat. After the lime is dissolved, pour it into a jar, stir it with a bamboo pole for 1-2 hours, and after overnight, indigo condenses and precipitates, and scoop out the water on it. About 5 kg of indigo leaves can be dried with lime 1 kg.
In Guizhou folk, indigo naturalis is not only used as a dye, but also has the medicinal function of expelling toxin and killing insects.
Indigo is a special plant vat dye used in China blue printed fabric.
According to the ancient book Xia Zhengxiao, Polygonum cymosum was planted in Xia Dynasty in China, and its growth habit has been known. "Irrigation Polygonum hydropiper in May". In other words, in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, we will plant umbrella grass.
It is recorded in The Book of Songs, Xiaoya and Cai Lan: "It is no good to pick blue at the end"; Shuowen recorded: "Blue dyed grass." ; Xunzi recorded in "Encouraging Learning": "shine on you is better than blue."
The "blue" mentioned in these ancient books and poems refers to Liaolan.
However, the blue grass that can be used to make blue plant dyes includes not only Polygonum of Polygonaceae, but also Isatis indigotica of Cruciferae, Isatis indigotica of Leguminosae, Isatis indigotica of Acanthaceae and so on.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Malan was once an important cash crop in northern China. There is a professional blue-producing area in Chenliu (now Kaifeng, Henan). Zhao Qi, a writer, passed by and saw Malan everywhere on the mountain. He was deeply touched and wrote an essay "Blue Fu". He said to himself, "I went to see a doctor and died. I learned it from the Taoist scriptures." People in this place make a living by growing blue dyes. "
Jia Sixie, an agronomist in the Northern Wei Dynasty, recorded in detail in his book Qi Yao Min Shu that firstly "the green mowing was poured into the pit and then put into the water", and then the grass was pressed down with wood and stone, so that all the grass was immersed in the water. The soaking time was "one night in hot weather, two nights in cold weather", and lime water was added at the ratio of 1.5%. After precipitation, "clear water" and "as thick as porridge", then "indigo is finished" When it is used for dyeing, it is only necessary to add lime water to indigo mud to prepare dye solution and ferment indigo to turn indigo into indigo white. Indigo can be dissolved in alkaline solution, so the fabric can be colored. After air oxidation, the fabric can obtain bright blue. The production and dyeing technology of indigo is almost identical with the dyeing mechanism of modern synthetic indigo.
Song, a scientist in Ming Dynasty, further elaborated and summarized the planting of bluegrass, indigo production and dyeing technology. He said in the book "Heavenly Creations": "All five kinds of blue can be indigo. Tea green is Isatis indigotica, so it should take root. Liao Lan, Ma Lan and Wu Lan are all born. Recently, blue lobules, commonly known as amaranth, have better varieties. " In terms of indigo dyeing, the book points out: "Where blue enters the urn, it must be mixed with rice gray water first, and bamboo sticks are stirred every day, which is countless. The best is the standard cylinder. " .
According to Jiangsu's "Guangxu Tongzhou Chronicle", "When planting blue, the head is cut in May, and then the second blue is cut in July. Soak a pool of water with lime, stir it for thousands of times, remove the water and turn it into indigo. Used to dye cloth, it is called Xiaogang Qing. Rugao came out with a very good name. " It is recorded in detail that the leaves of Polygonum hydropiper can be collected in two stages: before and after the summer heat and before and after the Millennium. Twenty-eight kilograms of clean leaves and twelve kilograms of lime can be mixed into one material, and four materials can be made into one load of indigo, which looks like mud, so it is called "soil indigo".
The simple process of folk indigo production recorded in Zhou Zhi is enough to illustrate the important position of blue grass planting and blue printed cloth production in the products at that time.