Meanwhile, in other news, biochemists say that the WOAD plant has been discovered to have strong cancer fighting properties - complete article here.

From woad warriors to cancer-buster

The medieval Scottish rebels made famous in the movie Braveheart used dye from the woad plant to paint their faces blue for battle. Now Italian biochemists say this plant could become a promising weapon in the fight against cancer.

The researchers have demonstrated that under the right growth conditions woad (Isatis tinctoria) produces astonishing amounts of glucobrassicin (GBS), a biochemical which may account for some of the cancer-fighting properties of related plants, such as broccoli.

"It can make more than 60 times the amount found in broccoli, and in a much purer form," says Stefania Galletti at the Experimental Institute for Industrial Crops in Bologna, who carried out the study with colleagues at the University of Bologna in Italy.

Glucobrassicin is a natural component of broccoli, cabbage and other members of the Brassicaceae plant family. It is a highly reactive chemical and at least one of its by-products, indole-3-carbonyl, is a well known tumour-busting compound.