eucalyptus enterprises

my googles alerts have ben casting up a few interesting tidbits of late. i noted with some amusement that an enterprising real estate seller in Udon was advertising a eucalyptus plantation for sale. in order to make the proposition more attractive they have listed the dye properties of the genus. unfortunately they simply lifted the entire text from the addition i had made to the Wikipedia eucalypt entry some while ago....

All parts of the eucalyptus may be used to make plant dyes that are substantive on protein fibres such as (silk and wool) simply by processing the plant part with water.[citation needed] Colours to be achieved range from yellow and orange through green, tan, chocolate and deep rust red. The material remaining after processing can be safely used as mulch or fertilisers

....pity they forgot to edit out the citation bit...

oh, and earlier today i had a call from somebody in Queensland wanting to know about the use of eucalyptus dyes as paint for fabric. i tried to explain that the colours will be quite different when painted onto the surface from those in which the fabric is immersed and then heated, but i'm not sure it got through. they'd need to be steamfixed after the painting is complete...if the steam were hot enough they might even change colour....who knows, that's a tricky one!