Alphabe Thursday O is for Oak

This week’s contribution could go anywhere pretty much but I will go for O is for Oak Tree.  The female  

Cynips quercusfolii is a small black gall wasp, is noted for her unusual nest making.  In the spring she punctures a home for her eggs in the soft young buds of the oak tree.  The tree naturally protects itself against the ‘invasion’ and forms little nutlike growths around the wasp holes.  These oak galls are collected before the wasps hatch and used to make ink of the most intense black. It was used throughout the medieval times and was probably learned from the Arabs who used it for ink, dying clothes and mascara.

The ink contains tannin and is  highly astringent and found in many other plants but it is not in such a concentrated form.  Tea leaves can also be used to make ink.