In 1968 Patricia Tournerie started to collect information concerning traditional colour recipes used in Ethiopia, with the intention of providing students in the Faculty of Education at the University of Addis Ababa with a simple handbook on locally available materials for use in provincial schools. The students themselves - the majority of whom were already practising teachers and who came from all the Provinces - were the first to be asked. In all, several hundreds of students, over a period of four or five years, were asked about dye plants. Most professed ignorance, but others were very...