0 a blue substance obtained from plants that some people in the past used to paint their bodies with
Blue is also possible, but it seems unlikely that results were so much better than those obtainable from the much cheaper woad or indigo.
Indigo is extracted from woad for use as inks and dyes.
If we followed that sort of argument and went back far enough, we should now be nude and painting ourselves with woad.
That is only to be expected, of course; they were civilised when we were still running about in woad.
In between, there are industrial applications with moderate potential; for example, dyestuffs such as woad or resins and adhesives.
Yet here we are talking about woad as an important source of pigment for industrial purposes.
That is to say, if the woad can be distributed at something like a no-profit price we shall be happy.
We are embarking on providing a constitution for an island which was civilised when our ancestors were walking about wearing woad.
