File:Weld (Reseda luteola) - geograph.org.uk - 1471895.jpg

English: Weld (Reseda luteola). This large area of disturbed ground is at Dalquhurn, where existing buildings had recently been demolished to make way for a new housing development.

In response to the disturbance of the ground, large patches of Weld have sprung up, covering much of the site. Its abundance here, on what was once the location of Dalquhurn Dyeworks, is a fitting reminder of the textile industry that once prospered here and elsewhere along the course of the River Leven. In his "Loch Lomondside" (2001, New Naturalist Series), John Mitchell says:

"Glacial sands and gravels have been extensively worked in southern Loch Lomondside. When freshly excavated the disturbed ground temporarily acts as a refuge for once common arable weeds, which have become very restricted in their distribution with so few fields now under the plough. Amongst several locally uncommon species that occur in these abandoned pits are yellow bartsia (Parentucellia viscosa), great mullein (Verbascum thapsus) and weld (Reseda luteola), the latter formerly cultivated as a yellow colouring agent used by the then thriving textile industries in the Vale of Leven".

The use of the plant in dyeing is alluded to in another of its common names, Dyer's Rocket. For a closer look at the flowers, see 1368095.

Sandpits were mentioned in the above book extract; it is probably worth mentioning in this connection that old maps record the existence of extensive sandpits at the western end of the old Dalquhurn Dyeworks site.

For Great Mullein, which was also mentioned above, see 1471894.