Woad is a historical dye plant and has been the only natural source of blue dye in Europe for centuries. British warriors are said to have rubbed their faces with the dye of the plant to obtain a fearsome appearance when they were fighting the Romans. In colonial times woad was supplanted by the stronger tropical stronger indigo blue. It continues to play a role in Chinese medicine, which uses ground woad rhizomes prepared as an infusion or as flu medicine. More recent medical research has also shown that woad could potentially play an important role in cancer prevention, as it can produce very high concentrations of the glucosinolate glucobrassicin which is also found in broccoli and cabbage.
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