Natural Dye Plant Garden for Conservation of Tradition Fibers and Dyes in an Ethnobotanical Garden

摘要

Although Mexico is only a fifth the size of China,the floras of both countries are comparable in their diversity.At the Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca we have planted a thematic section devoted to species that have provided textile fibers and dyestuffs to local communities since antiquity.I will illustrate in this presentation how we cultivate some examples of both groups of plants,including brown cotton (a Gossypium hirsutum cultivar),ixtle(Agave spp.),pita (Chevaliera magdalenae),and chichicaztle (Urera spp.) among the fibers,along with Mesoamerican indigo (Indigofera suffruticosa),xochipalli (Cosmos sulphureus),huizache (Acacia farnesiana),and cuatle (Eysenhardtia polystachya)among the colorants.I will describe how we use these and other species to teach schoolchildren and the general public visiting our garden about the role of color in the cultural history of our region.The growing concern about chemical pollution and carcinogenicity associated with synthetic compounds provide us with a good anchor point to picture a renewed role for vegetal fibers and dyestuffs in our local economy in the future.