e not used to dye straws.

Tiagkot.--The leaves of this plant (Pithecolobium subacutum)
are employed on Romblon Island in dyeing buri gray. Other names
are tagayong, narandauel, saplit (Cagayan); carisquis, ayamguitan
(Zambales); tugurare (Pangasinan); inep (Bulacan); malasaga, malaganip,
tekin (Laguna); bahay (Sorsogon); tagomtagom (Samar); tique (Rizal).

Kabling.--This plant (Pogostemon cablin) is generally cultivated,
though it grows where its cultivation has been abandoned. A volatile
oil, used to keep away insects from textiles, is obtained from
the leaves. The leaves are used in Tanay, Rizal, in obtaining gray
sabutan straw.

Mabolo.--The heart wood of this tree (Diospyros discolor) is known
as kamagon. The leaves are employed in Tanay, Rizal.

Castor.--This plant (Ricinus communis) is seldom cultivated in the
Philippines but is found wild in all localities. The "beans" yield
the oil. The leaves are added to mud in obtaining gray sabutan straw.

Artificial Dyes.

It is commonly believed that artificial dyes are less permanent
than natural ones. This is seldom the case; as a matter of fact,
some of the fastest and most valuable dyes are now made artificially
and many are not procurable from vegetable coloring matters. Most
of the cheaper dyes made from coal tar are fugitive; that is, they
fade in sunlight or water or in both. They are often still further
cheapened by being adulterated with salt, dextrine and the like. Such
are the colors which are usually sold by the Chinese tienda keepers
and which have caused artificial dyes in general to come into such
ill-repute in the Philippines. Many of these "Chino dyes" contain 95
per cent salt. It is the belief, however, that artificial dyes of a
good class, so packed and marketed that they will come cheaply to the
hands of the dyers and weavers, will drive out of use practically all
of the vegetable dyes now employed in the Philippines. The disuse of
the natural dyes would not be regretted here, for, with the possible
exception of those obtained from sabutan straw in Tanay, much finer
colors can be produced with artificial dyes, as to both beauty and
fastness. If the time of the workers is considered, the vegetable
dyes now employed in the Philippines are more expensive than the
artificial dyes, even though the latter are now sold in wastefully
small packages and bear the burden of several large profits before
they come to the hands of the persons using them.