Purple Gromwell
is the English name of the plant
the Japanese call
MURASAKI
Purple Gromwell Murasaki
The Murasaki plant is used to create a dye and it and the dye plant and color are also referred to as SHIKON. Zi in Cantonese and Mandarin and Tia in Viet. CA in SinoKorean.
The botanical name is Lithospermum or Buglossoides purpurocaeleum.
Other names in Englsih are Stoneseed and Pearl Plant and its related to Borage.
Here's a poem form the KoKinShu KKS xvii 867
Murasaki no
hitomoto yue ni
musashino no
kusa wa
aware to zo minagara
The poet was out on the Musashino plains in Eastern Japan.
Have you seen Murasaki in the wild?
I remember a few years back there was a screen painting on display in the AGNSW of the tall Musashino grasses with the moon rising.
With Tokyo's urban scrawl covering most of the Kanto plain I wonder how far form Tokyo you would have to travel to see Murasaki in the wild?
Alice Walker once stated Purple is a Womanist Color
So here's picture of one of my favorite brands of writing tools the Stabilo Liner 808 M
Stabilo Liner 808 M
So why am I giving this product free PR?
Its got good ink flow and doesnt run out too quickly. The cap moves on and off smoothly but stays in place when on and the casing has a slight sublte texturing for a better grasp! Its good design and form follows function!
Okay now if anyone from Stabilo reads this any chance of a freebie?
No? Oh well I'll continue to enjoy using the pen!
Oh and the purple dye or ink they use for the purple one is a good mid range hue not lilac or pinkish or bluish.